Chihiro: Part I
by Ennya
Summary: Completed. Chihiro: Part II is posted. For Jounouchi Katsuya, discovering where you belong has never been so glorious, or so terrifying! SXJ Explicit yaoi, oral, masturbation! Don't like, do not read Part One of Two.
1. Prologue

**** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh ****  
  
****A/N: I decided that no writing Yu-Gi-oh yaoi fangirl's portfolio on Fanfiction.net is complete without a SetoXJoey story. So here it is, the tribute to my all-time favourite Yugi yaoi couple!  
  
This is my most major project for FF.net. It's an idea I've been playing with for quite awhile, and now have decided to take into action. I truly hope you enjoy. Oh, and it's written entirely in Joey's POV. ****  
  
Prologue  
  
It was not unordinary. I met him on the evening of May the 15th. It was an ordinary day, unexciting, boring, dull, and when I started walking home from the school, after an agonizing two hours of detention, little did I know that this would be the day that would change my life forever.  
  
I was not one of those people who always looked around hoping something better would fall down upon me and my life would be perfect. I lived alone now that I was 17 but I had suffered in the past a pretty harsh family life. I'm not completely inclined to say exactly what happened, all I can say is that I'm happy it's over. How I escaped it, I still can't remember. Even as I was able to pass through the harshness of my growing up with an alcoholic for a dad and never seeing my mother or my little sister ever again, as I grew to become accustomed to living on my own, I knew that this was not much better.  
  
Life was not a fairy tale, and when I was younger I would refuse to believe it. Sometimes I would think that I would meet a talking dragon that would fly me away to a magnificent castle in the sky far from the human eye to see. That was when I was young and stupid. Now fairy tales are no more to me than pictures in a storybook made to push people to believing in lies. It was what happened to me. I started to believe in lies.  
  
I guess at some point in your life you just have to accept the fact that nothing is ever going to happen to you. It's the same for every teenager my age; they wake up, go to school, come home, study, and in the morning they get up and go to school again. Every now and then the weekend would come, and that was a refreshing change, but then the weekdays would begin again, as would the disappointment that was life.  
  
I did the best I could not to complain about it. I knew it wouldn't help. And it would be pretty selfish of me nevertheless. I was lucky to have even been born in a reasonable part of the world where war and famine was scarce, at least now it was. I had no right to complain at all about my life not turning out the way I wanted it to.  
  
However, on May the 15th my life took an unexpected turn that I did not expect. And soon after I would finally realize that it was possibly the most wonderful and the worst thing that could have happened to me.  
  
I was given a new life, a life full of magic and power. It was truly one I could never imagine, not if I tried and dwelled on dreams for the ages to pass. When I was walking home from school that evening, I had a slight idea of what a life like that would mean. But I never did realize the true caliber of it until I became, and saw with my own eyes, the wonders this life held.  
  
Perhaps I'm getting a little ahead of myself. I should probably start at the beginning, where most common stories begin.  
  
My name is Joey Wheeler, and his name was Seto Kaiba. And when this began, all we were to each other was perfect strangers. But as time went by we became so much more together. What he had failed to realize was that I was just a mere teenage boy with hopes and dreams for the future. And what I had failed to realize about him, was that as soon as I would let him touch my soul, we both would be in uttermost danger.  
  
This is my story. Let me share it with you.  
  
~*~  
  
*** Let it commence. *** 


	2. Chapter One

**** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh ****  
  
Chapter One  
  
It took me a long time, I remember, to finally realize that in this world, no matter if you are mortal or immortal, there can be no Heaven without Hell, no love without hate, no good without evil, and most importantly, no light without darkness. As a teenager I didn't care, and to my knowledge I wouldn't care for a long time.  
  
In the afternoon of the 15th, it was raining, which was not uncommon for May. When I had gone into school I knew from the start that the day was going to fall rapidly in terms of enjoyable. School had been like that for the past couple of weeks, and I wasn't too sure why. I thought it was maybe because of the weather. Sometimes, when I sat in mathematics class and found myself staring out the window, I saw that it was often gray and raining, and it would bring down my mood quite a bit. I was also convinced it was what was making all the teachers so bastardly during those past few weeks. Since April I had gotten horrible marks on a bunch of tests in different subjects and failed a literary paper in English. Not to mention the scolding that they pulled every three seconds on a classmate of mine.  
  
I remember distinctively why I had been sent to detention that afternoon. I also remember I had been extremely upset about it, and that's why I had to go in for two hours. I was sitting in history class, bored as ever, looking out the window and around the room as I usually did during this teacher's extremely monotone lectures about some North American senator or some Japanese war hero. It was when I got my history paper back, and saw that I had failed another paper was when I lost it. I immediately asked my teacher why I had failed it, and I challenged him on a few of my answers. That earned me the first hour of detention. Then I complained about having to do detention when I was merely challenging him on a few things on my paper which I thought I held a pretty strong argument for. It wasn't good enough for him, and apparently he didn't like the talk-back. That earned me the second hour.  
  
After school I was happy that school was out, and then sullen again when I realized I had two hours of detention to wait out. That had bummed down my attitude a fair bit. I slugged over towards the detention room, carrying my books under my arm as I stuck my two hands in my pockets, staring down at my feet as I walked. Stupid teacher...I had the right to challenge him. Maybe I would go to the principal about this. I just might...after my detention was over.  
  
I pushed open the door. The teacher was sleeping. There was two other kids in there, one who was nodding away to a hidden walkman somewhere in his big sweatshirt, and the other was sleeping with his head on a book. I sighed. This was going to be a long two hours. Luckily I brought material to wait it off. I had the two books that I was reading that I had borrowed from the library, and I had some homework to do for other classes. Maybe these two hours would go by in a breeze.  
  
I was wrong. Probably because I didn't read my books or do my homework. Most of the time I sat there in the desk and stared out the window, like I usually did in my classes, and in a way I didn't mind not having to go home. When I moved out of my dad's place I thought it'd be great not to have to go home to a drunkard all the time and get the living shit pounded out of you because something simple like not having a shoelace tied annoyed him. I remember those days. They were awful. Those were the days I truly believed I was living in Hell. I knew they wouldn't stay forever and I was glad to be out of there. But now when I go home to an empty apartment, I feel so empty and lonely. At least at my dad's place the lights were on and there was a familiar smell to the place.  
  
By the time my detention was over I was so happy to be out of that school that I hadn't even cared about that teacher anymore, or about him putting me into detention for challenging him. I didn't know that as soon as I left that school I soon wouldn't have to be putting up with that teacher ever again.  
  
This is how it happened. I knew it was a mistake from the beginning, but I was human. Humans were vulnerable, especially in such a prime age as I was.  
  
When I had started to walk away from the school, the sky was already really dark and the light from the sun was completely gone. It was almost six and I feeling pretty hungry and zapped of a good mood. As I was walking I could already start to smell the freshness of the rain, you know that smell, when it's about to rain. Moments later it came pattering down onto me, gently at first, and, like rain in Japan, down in buckets. It soaked through my mop of blonde hair, through my clothes, and eventually through my mood.  
  
It had been an awful day and it wasn't getting any better. I was walking down the center of downtown at this point. My apartment building was a little ways away from the school, but thank goodness it wasn't right in the inner sanctum of downtown Domino. It was barely on the outskirts. There's not a lot to my apartment. I suppose that's why it was somewhat hard to go home to it everyday. From the outside it seemed like a nice little place where a couple or, as I was, a bachelor would live freely, untouched by the human world. It wasn't like that. It seemed more of an empty shell that I could hide in, and yet it held no real protection from the outside world. Sometimes I even considered going back to live with my father, and shook the thought away. Nothing in the world would possess me to do such a thing.  
  
I was walking down the main road, where the street was full of little shops and tiny restuarants that sold delicious food for random prices. The shops were distinct, some were unimaginable, some were so interesting you could not pull away. I spent days walking by the stores, looking into them, not once taking the time to see the contents within. The tattoo parlor, the new age crystal store, the hemp clothing store, the many bookstores, the art stores. They all held their own charming personalities that captured the hearts of many citizens.  
  
As it was raining, the shops were open. I could see the people who managed the stores from within, they looked warm and happy, interested to tell customers about the products they sold, delighted to work in such a place. Whenever the door opened as I passed a gust of warm air flew by me and tempted me to go inside, but I walked right by. As I was cold and wet, I had no desire that day to take the time to go into the stores and look at the interesting merchandise. I wanted to go straight home, have a long hot shower, and drown the events of that day.  
  
I wasn't aware that as I slowly walked up the street, I would near a store, and inside I would meet a person who would change my life forever.  
  
A certain scent caught my nostrils in a grip to hold a thousand men as I walked up the street. I thought it was the sandwiches and soups coming from the little deli, or perhaps it was the intoxicating scent of burning witch sticks and candles from the new age store across the street, where they sold crystals and delivered false hopes. Whatever this scent was, it was pulling me into a type of fascination I had not experienced in a very long time.  
  
I walked down the street. It was still raining. Cars passed me by without looking, I had my hands shoved in my pockets, my backpack on ruggedly, about to fall off, and my head down, staring at my shoes as they soaked in the rain as I walked. As I walked I came to see that it looked as though all the colour of the world had suddenly drained with the on-coming rain. All the blues, the reds, the yellows had been washed away to a dull and foreboding gray which covered the world mercilessly, leaving only the green of the trees to stand out so brilliantly, as they did in the evening sun.  
  
I shivered, pulled my jacket together, hoisting my backpack into a better position on my back and continued to walk, although this time a bit more quickly. Ahead I could see the many towers of Domino City begin to flare and light, and look like blazing candles in the dark sky. So many lights, I looked up with mere fascination.  
  
This was when I felt it.  
  
I felt a presence and a urge of interest growing inside my mind, calling to me in a way I had never experienced nor imagined.  
  
For a moment, I saw that I had stopped walking. Was it to look at the massive buildings ahead of me that made the city of Domino what it was? I didn't know what it was. All that I knew, was that as I looked over to my right, I had stopped right in front of an art gallery, one I hadn't really seen before. One that I knew was there, and yet never bothered to acknowledge. In confusion I stared at it. Inside were few people, attendants who worked there in their best suits, looking through catalouges, greeting whoever came in.  
  
From what I could tell there were not many people inside. A man stood at the desk by the window. Perhaps this meant that he was not busy talking to someone about a certain piece that was displayed in the gallery.  
  
Biting into my lip, something about this art gallery had caught every sense and interest in my body, and wielded it into great interest. There was a force that grew great, greater than when I walked by the other shops. I had stopped for a reason, one I myself could not explain, but one my mind could answer in complete detail. This force, something wanted me to go inside that gallery.  
  
I shook my head, water droplets from the rain flowing out of the ends of my blonde locks. I stared at the art gallery, unsure of why I had become so interested in it all of a sudden. I wanted to go in, but it wasn't for the warmth or to look at the paintings. Shit, I had never looked at a painting in my life. Not with interest, anyway. What was indulging me to do so at this point? I didn't understand.  
  
There it was, the force, whispering to me in silent calls, telling me to come inside where it was warm. Chewing on my lip I wondered what would change if I went inside there. Would my life change for some distinct reason if I chose to go along with this force and see my way inside the gallery?  
  
No. And Yes.  
  
I shook out my hair again and shrugged. There couldn't be any harm in going into an art store, could there? Slowly I walked towards the door and reached out to take the handle. The force was stronger, the scent was deeper. I touched the handle, it was warm against my ice cold hands, drenched in the rain.  
  
I looked back to the street, wondering if I should just go home. I had had a pretty bad day anyway, and I still had homework to get to. And besides, this force wouldn't prove to be anything of any important, would it?  
  
My mind told me to go back home if I was so unsure, that there was nothing in this store that would make me happy, and in the end I'd regret wasting my time in going in there in the first place. But my heart refused to let me leave. It pumped, telling me in silent rhythm to go into that gallery and if I didn't, I would regret it for the rest of my life.  
  
Two completely different opinions. How would I choose what to listen to? Would I go home or would I go inside the art store?  
  
I remembered something. A book I had to read once in the ninth grade. It told me precisely not to think twice before listening to my heart. It had been an awful book, but now that I think about it's words, I realize how powerful those words were.  
  
My heart told me to go into the art store. Never think twice before listening to your heart. I opened the door and let myself inside.  
  
The wave of heat came over me, and for a moment I thought I was going to fall over. It was so different from the cold weather outside. It was warm and cozy inside the store, and it made every inch of my icy cold skin warm slowly, giving me a slightly unpleasant tingling feeling, from my toes to the tips of my fingers and up along my neck as I felt the lingering rain water fall from my hair and shoes.  
  
A fire was lit somewhere in the room. I could smell the burning embers. Perhaps that was what had provided the heat. The man at the desk looked up to see who had come inside. When he saw it was me, his face seemed to have drained from colour and his eyes showed great lack of enthusiasm. He must have suspected I was only someone inside from the rain, I wasn't there to buy anything.  
  
Hell, who on earth would have the money to buy some of these things? I barely had enough money for groceries, after being laid off from my part time job last week, money was getting low, and urgency flooding back into my mind when I realized I had to find a new job soon.  
  
I didn't worry about that. I gave a small wave to the man at the desk with a half-decent smile, and he turned his nose up at me, muttering a little "welcome" and then returning back to his book on the counter. He didn't want anything to do with me for now. I would look but he wouldn't approach me in attempts to ask if I wanted to buy something.  
  
I didn't care. He didn't need to bother me. In fact I remember how much I hated going into a little store and clerks from left and right were on my tail asking if I needed any help in finding something to my desire. Then they would leave me alone until I left, afraid I would steal something, because of course to them I looked like the type who would steal something.  
  
But in the art gallery, what could I possibly steal? A painting? Just slip it under my shirt and walk out casually? I'm sure the clerk would notice if I had a thirty-four inch flat solid stretching out my school uniform and making it hard for me to walk. I smirked. The clerk didn't have to worry about anything.  
  
So I came inside, after wiping my shoes on the carpet. I stepped onto the hardwood floor and looked around. The entire room was painted in a reddish burgundy colour that made the entire room look even more clouded with heat. It was inviting. On each wall, and in the dividers in the center of the floor, were paintings. Big paintings, small paintings, ones with colours and fierce objects and others with dreary colours and rather boring objects. At the bottom of the canvas signified the artist's name and title of the piece, and always, the price.  
  
My eyes widened in shock as I looked at the first painting of a house covered with flowers, sitting in the rain. It was priced at well over forty- hundred dollars. I swallowed, and an odd feeling came over me as I realized I was walking in a very expensive store.  
  
I didn't mind it. I took time to look along the paintings. Slowly at first, to stare at each one of them with great interest, or little interest, depending upon the content. I didn't find too much interest in many of the paintings I saw. They all seemed to be of sugar and happiness, of fantasy worlds that told lies. My lip curled at the sight of those paintings, and I shook my head. When I continued on, I seemed to have found better pieces, ones that weren't as colourful or cheery as the first.  
  
The force was getting stronger, and I couldn't help but notice it. I walked along the store trying my best to ignore it but finding it hard. The force was gripping my every sense, just as it had done outside.  
  
As much as I tried to ignore it, I found the feeling would not go away, and it was, in a way, bothering me to great extent. The paintings around me gave me a more comfortable atmosphere, but in a way made me a little uneasy. I felt surrounded by colour and emotion, of things that did not exist in my life. It made me jealous, and slightly angry.  
  
There came a point where I thought I should leave. I wasn't finding any use in staying in this store. I wasn't there to buy anything, and I wasn't an art critic, and I certainly wasn't feeling any justice over this strong, strange force that had creeped it's way into my mind and indulging my senses, rousing my soul with curiosity. I wanted to leave, but something in my mind told me to stop, and almost as if defying my wishes my legs wouldn't respond to my thoughts, my commands to move and go to the entrance and make my way home. It must have been six o'clock by now, perhaps later, and I still had to get home, do my homework, have a shower and all those things. I shook my head, wondering why on earth I had stayed so long. And for what? An invisible feeling, a gut feeling? Stupid. It was stupid, and I was stupid for letting it take over my mind for such a long time.  
  
I forced myself in the direction of the door, slouching my backpack over my shoulder and feeling rather grim. Unless the rain had stopped I'd be facing cold and wetness when I walked out to the apartment. I didn't care. I was still rather upset with myself for having stayed so long.  
  
I went towards the direction of the front entrance, I seemed to have forgotten completely about that force that had dragged me in, or the paintings blushed with colour that surrounded me, sold at horrendous prices. I had forgotten everything as I briskly walked towards the front door.  
  
That was when I stopped, and I saw it. A painting on the far wall which caught my attention. I turned my gaze upon it; my entire soul struck with a certain desire, a certain want. Blinking absurdly I slowly began to walk towards it.  
  
It seemed so distant, so different from all the other paintings. From what I could see it was a very dark and grim painting, and it seemed to isolate itself among the other paintings. As I neared it the walls around me seemed to creep away, as if afraid of me. My eyes locked upon this one painting in front of me as I absent-mindedly, almost in the tone of a zombie, walked towards it.  
  
Soon I was standing before it; my eyes drank in every inch of the dark paint and the vivid image upon it. Even now no words can really describe what I saw, what was in the picture.  
  
It was of a demon. A demon and a human, the human was pale as the moon and the demon was softly skin toned. Both of them sprawled across a large four- poster bed, with a French window in the far corner to show that it was deep into the night when the full moon was out. The bedroom, as it looked, consisted of no more than this bed, the window, and a carpet on the floor, which I could not conclude to be of any important to the image whatsoever. It puzzled me. The demon sank pointed fangs into the neck of human, the human man, it seemed. Not even a man, not from the hair and the shape of his face and the way his smooth stroked white body laid so gracefully on the bed, even as his neck was being ravaged by this monster. It was a boy, a boy perhaps not a day older than myself, with bleached hair and deep eyes that showed just the agony and the pain he was suffering. The demon above him seemed to laugh, at the boy, at me, for questioning his power.  
  
The entire painting was drowned in seething darkness, and it held a certain charm that I could not place in words. I stared at the painting and realized it was by far the greatest I had seen of the evening. Not that I necessarily had an eye for extremely gothic things, but this painting had etched an interest in me that nothing else in the world possibly could have. I reached out to touch the dried paint that formed this picture, and just lightly brushed my fingertips over the surface of the painted boy. I traced the lines of his muscular strong legs with my pointer finger and swept my thumb over the horror-stricken face. I bit down on my lip and thought of this boy as me, and the demon, the one biting into my neck and taking in the pleasure and bliss of my torment, was the rest of the world. Grinning at me, sadistically.  
  
I had to have this painting. There was nothing in life that stirred me more. I wanted to wake up in the morning and see the painting on the wall of my bedroom. I wanted to explain in great detail the obsession I had with it when people came over. I wanted to stare at it with obsessive passion when I had nothing else to do, or for when I couldn't sleep in dreary evenings. I wanted it so badly; my blood seemed to ache for it. My mind called for it, my heart reaching for it.  
  
My eyes slowly traveled down as I dared to even look at the price they asked for this piece of work. I knew it would be horrendously expensive and if I sold everything I owned and saved up for a thousand years I might be able to buy it then. I let my fingers fall and traced themselves over the little sign at the bottom of the canvas that gave the title, the artist, and the price. I saw the name of the painting first. A new interest sparked inside of me.  
  
"Merciful Death".  
  
What could possibly be merciful about this sort of death? I stared at the painting and wondered why the artist would give it such a name. I studied the characters again, trying to discover why it was named the title it was given. Was the boy sick and about to die? Judging by the tone of his skin I would almost say he had the plague. And judging from the French window and the four poster bed and the style in which everything had been painted, the picture looked to be about 1700's. Maybe that was it. The plague that had flooded Europe and this boy had it. The demon that was slowly taking his life, his blood, was draining away the illness, bringing the boy to a much calmer and more peaceful death. That was indeed, merciful.  
  
How do I know about the plague and such? I smirked. I didn't look like an average A student but I kept an ear open once in awhile and took in some things when I wanted to. Studying Europe was a bit of a fascination with me. Heaven knows why.  
  
I looked at the name of the artist below the title of the painting. Unknown.  
  
That helped (sarcastic). How was I supposed to know about this person, research his or her paintings (assuming I would) without knowing who it was. This person must have been obscenely rich and perhaps very old, but gifted nevertheless. I wanted to know this person, meet him, talk with him if I could. It made me frustrated to know that I could not know his name. Not for now, at least.  
  
I looked down at the price, and I winced. It was marked at over fifty-two hundred dollars. I couldn't pay for that, not even if I saved my money for the rest of my life. I sighed heavily in defeat, looking again at the painting, staring at it with a delicate eye. Perhaps I could not have this painting, not now, not in many years, but perhaps I would be able to find out more about the artist than the tag below the picture provided.  
  
The man at the desk. I was sure that he would know. I tore my eyes away from the painting; upset as I did so, but took it not to matter for I would see it again in moments, when I returned with the man from the desk. I turned towards the front entrance where I had seen the man at the desk that had paid no mind to me when I came inside.  
  
I turned, and this was the moment my life had changed. This was the first moment I felt my world would no longer be the same. It was the first time I set eyes on him.  
  
Seto Kaiba.  
  
At the time I did not know who he was, but I stopped immediately at the mere sight of him. I had lost thought of everything else. I had forgotten that I was standing in the art store, suddenly obsessed with a painting I had seen from the corner of my eye, and gone to fetch the man to ask of the painting's artist. Everything was a blank from my mind with the exception of the man, not even the man, the teenage boy who stood before me.  
  
He was by far the most beautiful creature I had ever seen in my entire being. I saw him from the side at first, but I knew him to be incredible, extraordinary and even in a way, magical. He was a tall lean creature, and his eyes were set immensely on a painting of an evening landscape. He looked so intent and never moved, and I thought perhaps that he had been an image of my imagination, a trick of the light, a mere image, like those in the paintings that surrounded me.  
  
But for a moment there was just him, and me everything else in the world was foggy and indecent. I cared not for them; I could care less for anything of the sort. I stared at him, and he became clearer as everything else went darker.  
  
How I wanted to touch him, I wanted to make sure he was real. He had captured my mind, my heart and my soul without trying, truly I was no match for him, but I needed to see him, to talk to him. My entire being longed to have a moment with just him and me.  
  
I watched as his eyes squinted for a mere second, as though he were greatly irritated, and as though he knew fully well that I was watching him, in a smooth delicate motion he turned his head and looked at me.  
  
I knew my blood had gone cold and all the colour had flushed from my face. I found myself paralyzed to move, unable to do anything but stare at him, even as I could see that he was irritated, as it was written all over his face.  
  
No words could describe him, nor his appearance, but I could try hard with all the words that meant beautiful. He stood at a remarkable height and was thin and fit, the clothes he wore, the black pants, dress shirt and trench coat were dark as night, enabling him to fit the personalities of a moving shadow, stuck to his figure not tightly but well-fit. His skin was white as snow, that was how I describe it, so white that he looked dead. But it was smooth, powdered smooth, glowing in the faint light luminously. His dress shirt exposed his collarbones and the beginning of a long, thin neck, and the perfect oval face that made me shiver with a certain desire. His slightly long nose, his high cheek-bones, his perfectly round chin were amazing, as though he had been chiseled from stone perfectly by an expert carver. His hair, a deep auburn was neatly done, the bangs fell down over his forehead and into his breath-taking hypnotizing blue eyes, that seemed to tell a story all their own. Dazzling as they were, they were startling in a way. When I saw those eyes upon me, I felt as thought they were drilling a hole into my soul, peering at me in a way that would give me nightmares.  
  
His form was mesmerizing; his entire being was overly beautiful, even ridiculous in a way. But his expression was grim and tiring, staring at me with little patience, as though he knew that I was suddenly gawking at him uncontrollably.  
  
I was still; as though frozen from the cold as his deep blue eyes slowly ran up and down my body, drinking in the sight of me. I knew that compared to him I must have looked like a run-down middle-class rag doll, what with my soul uniform and my back pack, the mop of blonde hair upon my head. I knew he must have been disgusted at the mere sight of me.  
  
His eyes rose back to mine and they set in a tight lock. He wouldn't move until I did, he would not speak a word until I did. He was waiting entirely for me, and if I did nothing, he would turn, and he would leave. It was easy as that. And with this sudden interest, I did not want him to leave. Not for anything in the world.  
  
To my surprise I saw something other than disgust in his deep eyes. It was written across his face. He looked rather intrigued, slightly interested in me, perhaps. I was somewhat startled by this but made no defiance as to his actions.  
  
"Hi." I chirped suddenly, and before I realized what I had done I had seemed to have lost myself in the pools of his azure eyes. To which, as I spoke, they seemed to peak in an odd way.  
  
I completely snapped out of the trance he had set me in. I blinked my eyes several times and became fully aware once again of the art gallery I was standing in, of the paintings that surrounded me, of the heat that enclosed my body, and that I had talked to him. I felt like I would faint right then and there.  
  
I opened my mouth in an effort to speak, but I could not muster a word. He seemed rather amused by this, and tearing away softly from the painting he had been previously observing, he took a few steps towards me, once again looking me over from head to toe, drinking me in almost hungrily.  
  
His extremely uneasy frown etched softly. "Hello." He said in reply.  
  
In an effort not to do anything critically stupid, and failing miserably, I blurted out. "I'm Joey."  
  
His perfect brown eyebrows rose in question, and I wanted to smack my forehead and hit myself with a baseball ball, chanting "stupid, stupid, stupid" all over again! I had told him my name, how forward could that have seemed? What would he say in reply to it? I didn't even want to know. Suddenly I had the greatest urge to run past him and leave the art store and never come back. But he was so enticing; I was scared that if I left I would never see him again.  
  
He said nothing for the longest time after I introduced myself, and I took this as a good sign. He must have been considering something to say to reply. I didn't know what he would say but for the longest time as I stood there all I wanted was for him to speak again. I wanted to know his name, oh God how I wanted to know his name. I knew it had to be some poetic creation to fit someone such as him. Speak to me again, angel. Tell me your name. Speak, please!  
  
At last he did. He gave me a small smile; his eyes were icy and stone cold. "I'm leaving."  
  
When he had turned his back to me I felt a great reluctance and urgency run through my entire being. I saw the sexy curve of his back and how well the trench coat kissed his hips, all of which making me tremble in the knees. But I couldn't let him go just like that. I reached out suddenly, grabbing his wrist, and harshly pulling on it, without really meaning to.  
  
I saw the azure eyes and nearly fainted. They brimmed with annoyance and irritant, and I knew that moment that he was angry. His expression told me all. It was cold and forbidding, and the way his eyes narrowed to me...*shudder * I feel I would have nightmares for weeks. That's funny...having nightmares about an angel.  
  
"What do you want?" he snarled softly at me, I could hear his anger in his voice.  
  
Now if you looked this guy right in the eyes you would never want to cross him again, or worse make him angry. But at the time I couldn't tell myself those things. I was already too obsessed with him, with his entire being, and it held me in a chaining grip, and wouldn't let me go.  
  
What did I want from him? Fuck, I didn't know. I wanted to stare at him consciously with my jaw hanging open and my shoulders slouched. I wanted to touch that beautiful face and swim my fingers through that creamy chocolate hair or lose myself completely in his eyes, only if they were full of warmth. I wanted everything from him. Everything and anything.  
  
"I-I" I couldn't find my voice, nor the words in which I wanted to speak. I wanted to tell him that I simply liked his outfit. Well, moreless simply wanting to lie to him by saying I liked his outfit, just his outfit!  
  
What would you say to someone that beautiful who was so angry at the moment? What?  
  
I cleared my throat when I saw him becoming too impatient. "You're not from around here, are you?" I asked, shrugging my shoulders.  
  
A suspicious chocolate brow rose in suspicion, and I bit down on my cheek from inside my mouth. What a stupid question, of course he wouldn't be from around here, and if he was, there was no doubt I'd have never seen him before. Domino was a huge city! My question lacked logic completely!  
  
To my surprise he smiled softly as if he knew that wasn't what I was trying to ask him. "Are you sure that's what you wanted to ask me?"  
  
~ I want to ask you if you'd be willing to give me a hand job! ~ I thought to myself, staring at him, and then suddenly I couldn't stop my mind from creating awkward yet enticing pictures in my mind.  
  
My eyes skinned over him, discreetly, and I knew he was growing angrier. I swallowed tightly at the thought of his naked form, his moon skin against mine, the chocolate hair and the blonde hair. I couldn't stop thinking about it! It was going to drive me insane.  
  
Right, I'm gay, if you didn't notice.  
  
When I faced his eyes again, he was smiling softly, almost pleasantly, as though he was taunting, and this made me very worried. What was he smiling about? It was almost as if he were responding to the thoughts and images I had just had in my head...was that possible?  
  
I shook my head. No, that wasn't possible. He could just see into my head so easily as that. I swallowed hard and blinked at him. "Uh-" I almost wanted to ask him if he were gay. Hell yes, I wanted to ask if he was gay!  
  
He let out a chuckle from low in his throat, a sound that seemed to me to be godlike. My fingers were shaking when I saw him smiling down at me. "You know you're cute when you're groping with your eyes."  
  
I couldn't tell if he was sarcastic or sincere. My heart skipped a beat for a second and- wait! Did he just say that I was cute?  
  
His smile grew, and I knew his ploy. He had me wrapped right around his finger, tightly. And I, like any other fool, would fall submissively to him.  
  
Groping with my eyes? Oh, so he noticed.  
  
I'm sure glad he didn't say, "undressing people with your eyes". That would have resulted a little bit badly, I think.  
  
He had had enough of this, I could tell by the wave in his eyes. "I have things to do." He said, not apologetically, but sincerely. He simply took my hand away from his wrist and gave me the same emotionless smile. "It was nice to meet you...Joey." He said. "Perhaps we'll meet again someday."  
  
Oh God please!  
  
And just like that, I was standing there in the middle of the art gallery, bathed in the warmth, the colour and the image of him standing there smiling at me, and he was gone.  
  
I blinked several times, I shook my head. I stood in front of paintings and tried to make sure I hadn't gone blind by losing myself in those majestic pools of blue. He said I looked cute. I sighed softly, thinking of him again, trying to retrace every curve and line in his body. But as soon as I tried to rebuild him in my mind, I saw his image fading quickly, and I knew I needed to see him again.  
  
What had he said? Perhaps we would meet again?  
  
I left the art gallery, but I promised I would back. Either the next day, or in a few years, but there always to go and see "Merciful Death", and perhaps look for the boy who was standing there, staring at the painting in front of him. I wanted him back. Badly.  
  
When I got home it was nearly eight thirty, and I cursed myself, ripping out my binders and notebooks from my backpack and trying desperately to get done the load I had been given that day. I had never forgotten everything when I had been in that art store.  
  
I suppose it wasn't surprising. When I finished all my homework, it was a little after midnight. When I slugged myself to my bed, where the room was slightly warmer than the rest of the apartment, I collapsed onto my bed and seemed to have fallen asleep, instantly.  
  
My dreams were plagued. Plagued by the white creature with the sexy aura, the chocolate hair, and the blue eyes that told a story all it's own.  
  
I hoped one day I would be able to discover and understand that story of his.  
  
Later on, I had. And I regretted it.  
  
~*~  
  
**** What do you think? Good? Bad? **** 


	3. Chapter Two

*** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh ****  
  
Chapter Two  
  
I was not one to get possessive, but when you asked me about the guy I had seen in the art gallery that enchanting night, I would tell you that I was nothing short of obsessed with him.  
  
It's true. My mind was completely set on him, and I had no idea why and what for. Because he was so handsome and mysterious? Perhaps that was it. Maybe it was because he had said that I looked cute when I was groping with my eyes. Maybe it was because of his startling presence altogether. Whatever the reason, I was obsessed with him, easy as that. Without even trying he had me captivated under a spell that I couldn't seem to break, not if I tried for a million years.  
  
When I went home that night, the air was cool around me, the rain had stopped and the traffic was gone. It seemed as though there hadn't been a single soul left alive in this dead, cold world except for him, and myself. Despite the running I did to get home in time to do my homework, it was an interesting adventure.  
  
I hadn't been back to that art gallery in a long time. Although there were times I would long to go to it and look at my painting and lose myself in its imagery. But every attempt I made to sneak away was a failure, as teachers had their eye on me at what seemed to be every second of the waking day and wouldn't let me go at any time.  
  
I remember during history class I had tried to sneak away, just for the pure enlightenment of wanting to go and see my painting. I had created the urge more than anything, as though somewhere in my mind I thought that if I went to see the painting, perhaps I would see him again!  
  
A failed attempt, as usual. When I told my teacher that I was feeling ill, he sent me to go to the nurse, but saw that I had packed up all my things before even clearing my throat to raise my hand. He frowned in suspicion at me as I left the room, and when I closed the door, I had thought I was home free.  
  
The hallways were empty and smelled of a pungent cleaner. Looking around I saw there was no one in sight and I hurried the quickest I could in the direction towards the nearest exit. I knew Anzu, this friend of mine from school, wouldn't appreciate the fact that I was skipping school to go out and wander about the streets. I hadn't told her about the art gallery, but then again who would? I kept it to myself at all times and all costs. Even if I was being beaten to death because I wouldn't tell whoever of who or what I saw at the art gallery, I still wouldn't say a word.  
  
In a way, it seemed to me that this art gallery experience was a special little thing that I could hold to myself and say it was the one thing unique about me. Usually when a person on the street or in the store sees me walking down the street or doing my shopping or whatever, to the same, stereotypical conclusion. I was just your average teenage guy who wanted everything from life  
  
and wanted to give nothing back. I wanted to shoplift, gawk at girls who walked by. I wanted to drive fast cars and cause trouble and get into fights and play guitar and be a failure and everything else in life that seems to dub a teenager's traits, according to the world of morons, who have neither the nerve nor the right to judge me.  
  
Well, my attempt to sneak out hadn't worked out. In an instant my history teacher came running down the hall and caught me with my foot just outside of the door. He asked me where I was going, I told him I was going to see the nurse, and he gave me detention for attempted skipping of his history class.  
  
I think if it had been any other teacher, they would have let me go and wished me a good day. None of the teachers in this school liked me all that much, because I didn't get the best grades, I was never really paying attention in class, and I just did not have the right attitude I needed to do well at school.  
  
Again this is where Anzu comes in. Whenever I get a lecture from a teacher about anything, and let me tell you anything, from failing a term paper to picking my nails, they keep an eye on me at all time and will scold me for anything, Anzu is there as a backup. Whenever I get a lecture, she lectures me secondly. She tells me that if I don't start paying attention in class, I'm going to fail and never get into a decent collage. Like I even want to go to college.  
  
Then there's Otogi, my main guy. He's been my best friend for awhile now, and he's a little more on the exciting side. Where Anzu is demanding of responsibility, Otogi goes right ahead and lips off at the teachers and steals from the cafeteria right under their noses. He doesn't deny anything, and when they accuse him of something, he stands right up and says. "Yeah! I did it! What the fuck are you gonna do about it?"  
  
I lost count of how many times he had gone to the principal's office. He'd even been suspended one week in October for smoking weed in the boy's washroom. I think he wanted to be caught though. He wasn't stupid, he knew that someone would smell the smoke. He always told me that if I felt like doing something, I should do it. Because the world didn't owe us any favors.  
  
Anzu didn't approve of our behavior for the most part, that was why she usually went to her gang of cheerleaders and dancers in the far corner of the room or near the door to the cafeteria. I say let her go, she doesn't want to be seen with us, we don't want to be seen with the school whore.  
  
Otogi was a lot rougher on her than I was, though. I had known her for awhile and Otogi and Anzu had met just at the beginning of the year. He didn't like her then and he sure as hell didn't like her now. When she came walking by he'd yell and ask if she had an appointment in the bathroom later on. She'd scowl at him, walk on, and Otogi would laugh.  
  
I was kind of happy that he was around when Anzu started lecturing me. When she told me that I should stop sleeping in history class because I was going to fail it, Otogi would slam his fists on the table, stand right up and tell her to keep her whore nose out of other people's fucking business. They had gotten into a big argument, and I sat there watching, not even thinking as to stop either of them from tearing out each other's throats.  
  
Yeah, Otogi for the most part was my best bud. But there were times where I was questionable of things he did or the people he hung out with. He was nice to me and never really did push me around or anything, but there was still the suspicion that one day he would turn on me and then I'd only have Anzu for company.  
  
God, what a fucking nightmare.  
  
So anyway, back to the gorgeous guy in the art gallery.  
  
Ah yes, one last thing I forgot to mention. I was gay, you know this. But Anzu and Otogi didn't. I knew that Anzu with all her friendship shit that she put up, if I told her she'd probably just stare at me wordlessly, and then smile and say she was happy for me. She'd try to keep her distance from me for the rest of the school year. Friendship my ass.  
  
And then there was Otogi...I didn't know what he'd say, but I had a pretty good idea of what he would say. He'd probably freak out at me and say that I was sick, and never speak to me again. Otogi was completely strait. Before I "figured out" that I was gay we used to go to restaurants and sit in the booths so when the hot waitresses went by, Otogi could smack their asses and wink at them when they looked around at him. Most of the time they giggled and blushed, others would glare at him.  
  
At school he was the worst. He was blunt, he'd walk straight up to a girl he liked and told her exactly what was on his mind. Because he was a fairly wealthy guy (and fairly good-looking), the girls would always start to giggle and twist their fingers in his hair when he whispered sweet nothings to them. He was the worst womanizer I had ever seen in my life.  
  
Yeah, he probably wouldn't be happy if I told him I was gay. So I refrained from telling him. Sometimes he tried to set me up with some girl he didn't like, and I always had to come up with reasons why I couldn't go out with the girl. Sometimes I would, and go home early. I wondered often if I'd end up telling him at all before we get out of school.  
  
Yeah, so here I was, sitting in my detention that afternoon with my books on one corner of the desk. The fat-ass supervisor was asleep. I should have just gotten up and walked out, he wouldn't have noticed, but I refrained from it because I didn't feel like walking home just yet. I was sitting by the window and looking out at the lawn and the buildings across the street. It looked like it would rain again. Hmm...maybe I should sneak out, before the rain comes, so I could get home without getting wet.  
  
An idea came to me. I could go back to the art gallery and visit "Merciful Death". I had tried to sketch out that painting from the vivid image I had in my mind on napkins with failing ball-point pens, but every attempt failed and ended up looking like something stupid. I was not the drawer, further more I was not an artist at all.  
  
Remembering the painting, I thought of the boy again. I hadn't really stopped thinking about him all day. That was why I had been yelled at in all of my classes, for gazing off dreamily and looking out the window, sighing like an idiot, getting weird looks from my classmates, scolding from my teachers, but laughs and thumbs-up from Otogi across the room, which made me smile.  
  
Yes! At last the hour was up! Now I could start walking home and not worry about school for a little while. I grabbed my books and left the room as fast as I could. As I walked down the hallway I thought about going back to the art gallery. It was on my way from school. Perhaps, if I didn't get too many more detentions, I could find time to stop at the store on my way from school to see the painting. I didn't think the people in there could kick me out for just going to see it. Afterall, I was a paying customer. Well...I could be if I wanted to.  
  
As I opened the door to go out I could already smell rain along the wind. I breathed in and sighed softly, pulling together my jacket so I wouldn't get cold. Shrugging my book-bag over my shoulder, I walked out of the shadows of the school building and towards the path.  
  
Just then I felt something flick at me from behind. I stopped and turned around, coming eye to eye with Otogi, who was leaning against the school plant display with a wide grin on his lips. "It's about time you got out." He said.  
  
I smiled, and I bent down to pick up the cigarette he had thrown at me. I wiped it off and stuck it in between my lips, searching my pockets and jacket for a light. "I'm surprised ya didn't get detention today." I told him.  
  
Otogi shrugged and lit the cigarette between his lips with his lighter. When it was lit he tossed it to me and I lit my cig, chucking the lighter back at him and taking a long, good inhale of the smoke.  
  
"I did." Otogi said, and then he grinned widely once again. "I'm surprised you didn't back out though."  
  
I walked towards him and stood beside him, leaning against the plant display and blowing the smoke out through my nostrils. "Can't afford to." I turned to him and smiled softly. "Thanks for waiting out fer me."  
  
Otogi nodded. "No problem. I was waiting for Honda, anyway."  
  
Honda was one of Otogi's friends who were somewhat of a big shot downtown. I figured he was probably a boxer or fighter or something of the nature. I'd only met him a few times. He was a cool guy; he drove all the cool cars and knew all the good people in the right places. I don't remember where he and Otogi met. I suspected it was at some house party.  
  
"Where ya guys headed?" I asked in curiosity, taking a second inhale of my cigarette, and upon blowing out the smoke I tapped the ashes.  
  
"Just for a few drinks," Otogi made it sound like it was no big deal. And it wasn't, really. Otogi drank all the time. He'd bring Jack Daniel's into class sometimes and get in massive trouble for it. Sometimes if he came over to my place or I went over to his place we'd have a beer or something and hang around.  
  
The black haired boy looked at me. "Wanna come along? Honda won't mind, he likes you."  
  
I thought for a moment and looked up at the sky. Thunder clouds were brewing, and soon it'd be raining. They were going to a bar but that would be greater than having to walk home in the rain. And I was sure that if neither Honda nor Otogi got too drunk they'd give me a ride back. Just as long as it wasn't too late, because I had a project to work on.  
  
"Yeah, sounds good." I told him, and finishing the cigarette I flicked it to the ground and crushed it under the heel of my foot.  
  
We didn't wait for very much longer, and those moments within were filled with random chitchat. Within fifteen minutes a car pulled up towards the school, and we knew it was Honda, even through the tinted windows, because no one else drove a yellow sport compact Honda with tinted windows. Otogi got right up and strolled over, tapping on the tinted glass of the passenger seat window and shouted out, "You're late, asshole!"  
  
I moved towards the car idly and saw Honda from inside the car rolling down the window and talking to Otogi. I cleared my throat, and didn't know if Honda would approve of me coming with them or not. I went and stood beside Otogi, and that was when my raven-haired friend nodded to me.  
  
"Jounouchi's gonna come along, that okay?" Otogi questioned, taking the last inhale of his smoke because chucking it to the ground as I had done earlier.  
  
Honda looked up at me and shrugged. "Yeah, sure." He asked without smiling or anything. "Now get your bony asses in the car! You're letting the heat out!"  
  
Otogi got in the passenger seat and I got into the back. The seats were black leather and there were porno magazines thrown all over the back seats. Should I be worried? I glanced at them with a rather worried eye, but closed the door and buckled my seatbelt, not looking at them any further.  
  
Honda pulled away from the school and I watched it go by. It was getting darker and darker, or maybe that was just the tinted window. Either way it looked as though it was about to rain. I sat and stared out the window as Otogi and Honda was engrossed in deep conversation.  
  
We drove into the little pre-city center where I walked on my way home from school. I recognized the shops, the delis. People walked along the sidewalk, getting prepared to get their umbrellas out or holding newspapers over their heads. It was beginning to get windy, the trees were blowing gently.  
  
The car pulled closer towards the city center, and the art gallery flew by. I watched it. I almost had the urge to tell Honda to stop and let me off here in front of the art gallery. I wanted to go see the painting more than anything, and I wanted to see if my hopes and dreams of seeing the boy again would come true, no matter how much I seemed to doubt it.  
  
The art gallery came...and gone. The conversation in the front between Honda and Otogi continued, and I stared out the windows staring at the things that flew by with nothing really on my mind.  
  
"Yo! Jounouchi!"  
  
My head snapped up in confusion. I saw that Honda was looking at me through his rear-view mirror, squinting as though he were laughing. "There's some magazines back there if you're bored."  
  
Out of the corner of my eye I looked at the magazines. My brow furrowed in what seemed to be sadness. Exploits of those girls, pictures taken for pleasure. I sighed inwardly; knowing deep down inside that there just wasn't something right with it. Perhaps that was why I became gay in the first place. Maybe I felt that there was too much ridicule in today's pleasurable society. Pornographic ridicule...nothing but.  
  
I smirked to myself. I thought of "Romeo and Juliet". Mercutio. The relative to the Prince, who believed that Romeo was far too mature for his age, a stick in the fucking mud, who told lies of love and hope to achieve lust. Mercutio knew what I felt. I may not have had such an aggressive outlook on it, but he certainly did. A long speech of fairy wives dancing on a young man's nose.  
  
Heh...heh...You weren't expecting that, were you? It's the same with what I told you about the plague, back when I first looked at "Merciful Death". In truth I did not look like you're A student, but I kept my mind open for some of these things.  
  
Maybe I was Mercutio. Or was I Romeo? I had heard rumors, those of which my English teacher scolded upon, that Mercutio and Romeo were gay together, and that Mercutio told such awful things of Rosalyn to draw Romeo away from her, and towards him. Mercutio seemed to be clever, if I was Mercutio, who was my Romeo? And if I was Romeo...who was my Mercutio?  
  
"Jounouchi!"  
  
I was startled out of my immense contemplation of Shakespeare when I realized that we had stopped in front of a bar, and that Otogi was tapping on my window, calling me to get out of the car, as we were heading in. Feeling a little bit stupid, I unbuckled my seat belt and hoisted myself out of the car. Honda and Otogi were looking at me in confusion.  
  
"Did ya fall asleep back there or something, Jou?" Otogi joked, smiling.  
  
Outside it smelled of rain, and the clouds were getting darker. I tried to smile back, running a hand through my hair and chuckling embarrassingly. "Yea well an hour of quiet can do weird things to a guy." I claimed, referring to my detention, as though it was a drug that had seemed to wipe my very energy away.  
  
Honda smirked. "Makes sense to me. If I were caught in a tiny shitty room with some fat-ass watching my every move, I'd fall asleep too." Nothing more was said, they both turned their backs to me to walk into the bar.  
  
I followed. I was too dazed to do anything else. Otogi and Honda seemed sure of themselves when they opened wide the door. Honda held the door open and passed it to me. I took a step inside and the wave of warmth and the mixed scents of cigarette smoke and beer flooded my nostrils, piercing my sense of smell in a horrid manner. I almost gagged, but I was able to control it. I didn't want Otogi or Honda thinking I couldn't handle it.  
  
Music. Rock and roll music, and I couldn't tell if it was on the radio or if it was live. All I knew was that it was loud and it was in my face, and I didn't necessarily like it. The bar was full of noise, the sound of chattering lifted above the music. When I looked around I saw that it was somewhat dark with candles on each table to bring little light. It was rather crowded, people gathered in to drink cheap beer and eat chicken wings.  
  
I followed Otogi and Honda. They walked through the crowd towards the back of the parlor, where a few tables sat empty and rather inviting. Little candles flickered, welcoming those who wished to sit. Otogi and Honda sat down first, and I followed suit, taking in my surroundings as I sat.  
  
A waitress came by momentarily, and I hesitated. She looked like one of those types who liked to flirt with the handsome customers, and let me tell you, both Otogi and Honda were quite nice to look at. I could tell instantly the looks that Otogi was giving her when she asked them what we wanted.  
  
Honda ordered three on tap and a plate of chicken wings for no apparent good reason, just that they seemed to be on sale tonight. When the waitress walked away with our order she swayed her hips slightly from side to side in a seductive matter. Otogi noticed it right away, and before he could even put on his flirtatious grin, I knew it was coming. He outstretched his arm and professionally smacked her ass.  
  
The waitress gave a little yelp, looking back at him, going red in the apples of her cheeks. But we all knew that she was hiding a smile when she hurried away with our order. Otogi turned to Honda and they both stifled low laughs that wouldn't seem too obvious.  
  
I took the time to look around a little more. People were talking happily with each other, drinking, eating, while the small band in the corner was neither unnoticed nor recognized as they played their music. The bar was a warm, inviting place to sit and have a drink. Several men were seated there, speaking with the bartender, some of them passed out on the bar's surface. The smell of ginger beer and barbecue sauce filled the room mercilessly.  
  
While Otogi and Honda's conversation carried on into what seemed to be of indistinguishable topics, I searched the bar with my eyes. Through the windows I saw it was raining. The sky was a deep gray and the trees were bright green. The image suddenly seemed more peaceful than anything else I could have imagined.  
  
I wanted to go walk in the rain, for awhile now it seemed. I didn't want to spend any more time in this warm place full of strangers, drunk on brandy- wine and lord knows what. Wandering the gray world seemed to me to be nothing more but a blissful paradise.  
  
Resting on my elbow, I let my chin rest on the palm of my hand. The waitress returned with our beers and chicken wings, but before leaving she was sure to stay and flirt with Otogi a little bit. I could hear them talk away of sweet nothings, and then disgustedly I heard them make plans to talk after her shift was done. That meant that I would be here longer than I had first suspected, unless I decided to walk home, which was not impossible.  
  
Otogi and Honda were deep in conversation once again. I did not listen. I directed my eyes towards the little band in the corner that played a rather solemn song now, and few of the people were listening. I stared at the band for what seemed to be hours, drinking in their commoner appearance, playing their second-hand instruments, living a broken dream. There must have been nothing crueler than that.  
  
I almost found myself drifting off to sleep, bathed in the warmth of the overheated room, listening to the sounds of chatter, the droll playing of the rock and roll band, the rain outside on the concrete. My eyes were drifting closed softly and I wanted to sleep more than anything, for just a moment.  
  
I think I yawned then, and suddenly everything was silent.  
  
Suddenly I turned and looked, and there sitting in a table just a little ways from ours sat a boy, gracefully sprawled over his chair, his legs crossed, the glint of the candle light caught in his leather clothes. I think I gasped at the mere sight of his. His eyes were upon me.  
  
He was my age. Not even, perhaps a year younger. I found myself trapped within his eyes, mystic pools of burning amethyst, staring straight into my soul with a sort of interest. Passion, perhaps.  
  
He played with a glass of bourbon between his fingers, never drinking it; his eyes locked on me, and the more I stared the more intense his eyes became. I felt my breath catch between my lips. He was good-looking, I will admit that. He had the oddest hairstyle, but at the time that didn't matter. Something about him, just the way he looked, moved, sat so elegantly...  
  
Made me think of the boy in the art gallery...  
  
Just...something about him was so...  
  
"Jounouchi!"  
  
I fell off my chair. I didn't know this until I lay uncomfortably on the floor with my tailbone aching in pain. I shook out my hair, rubbing my rear, and looking up I saw Honda and Otogi looking down at me, laughing uncontrollably. I gripped my chair and pulled myself up, hoisting myself onto the seat and once again shaking out my hair, rubbing my tailbone, taking a swig of my untouched beer and telling Otogi and Honda to shut the fuck up.  
  
I raised my eyes, and saw something surprising. The boy at the table was gone.  
  
I looked around the bar urgently, trying to see him, looking for the top of his unusual hair style or the glint of his leather clothes in the dim light. But I saw nothing. I felt a sudden sorrow come over me as though I knew I wouldn't see him ever again.  
  
I took another swig of my beer, feeling frustrated. By this time the chicken wings were gone, and I stared at the plate greased with barbecue sauce, thinking about what I had seen but not being able to bring logic to the situation. How could he disappear without a trace?  
  
Like he said, Otogi waited for the waitress to get off her shift, and when she did, he talked to her. She joined our table, introducing herself as Mango, to which I held back a snicker, wondering if she was naïve or just plain dumb.  
  
I stared at the table in front of us, where the boy had been sitting. His chair was untouched, the glass of bourbon remained, cold and watered down. Slowly the bar emptied, and soon we were the last ones sitting there, Otogi and Honda talking with the waitress. The rock and roll band in the corner had given up. The bar's smell of cigarette smoke and beer thinned, thankfully. There was not a draft, a sound, a wave of anything.  
  
Staring at the table, I found myself thinking. Thinking of what, I don't even remember. The boy, his eyes. Something in those ghostly eyes called to me. I stared at the flame on the table, the bourbon sat beside it.  
  
I was lost to the others, I was not there at all. Perhaps I was merely just a shadow in that bar that night. I didn't know how late it was. I stared at the flame, it sat perfectly. The boy, his eyes...in a way they almost seemed to be...calling to me. I closed my eyes and opened them again. He couldn't be calling to me.  
  
...Could he?  
  
The flame on the table flickered, as though it was about to go out, as though a breath wove itself upon it. Then it regained, and was still.  
  
~*~  
  
**** Hmm...well, what about that? Good? Bad? I'm sorry, no Seto Kaiba in this chapter, but he'll be making his appearance once again in the next chapter. I changed the characters' names from the American names to the Japanese ones because they're cooler. ^_^ **** 


	4. Chapter Three

I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh   
  
I'm sorry about the wait. I hope this chapter makes up for it.   
  
Chapter Three  
  
As I supposed it could have, during the next few weeks, life got extremely boring. It was nearing the end of May and school was winding down. That meant that summer holidays was on the way.  
  
Normally I would be happy about summer holidays, and I was. I was glad I didn't have to deal with schoolwork, being late for classes, sleeping during lectures or getting yelled at by the teachers. That was all well and good, not to mention spending time with Honda and Otogi, if they could tolerate me for the many weeks when we were free to do as we wished.  
  
But now that I was out on my own, living by myself, I would have to get a summer job to support myself. Ya know the drill, pay the bills, buy groceries, and pay for my schooling. It was a pain in the ass to do all myself, but at least I only had about a year left, and then after that, who knew what I could do. The sky was the limit.  
  
I already had a job at the local theater, but I had the sickening feeling that I was soon to be fired. I've been late almost three times and once got in trouble with a customer; a twelve-year-old kid got caught in an X-rated movie and blamed me for "not telling him the right theater" to go to. That got me in a lot of trouble. I was lucky I'm still there today. But if my gut feeling was serving me correctly, I was gonna get fired soon. And if I got fired I would need another job, and I couldn't keep borrowing money from Otogi, even though he'd probably just spend all his money on pot and smut magazines. It probably came from a bad source anyway, and I'd already borrowed too much when I was low on cash.  
  
The teachers at school were on our backs about the final exams that were approaching swiftly. Some of my teachers lectured my classes nonstop about how important would be, for our future references and all. I didn't see past the glares that they kept giving me, however. Others didn't acknowledge me, as though they knew there was no hope for me whatsoever.  
  
Otogi started bragging that he and that chick from the bar were going steady. He always talked about how he and she had so much in common, and how they were fucking constantly although he was pretty sure she got around a lot before she came to him. After he made that statement he told me to keep my fucking sentiments to myself. He probably knew what I was thinking.  
  
Sometimes Otogi would bring her along with us. I found her annoying as I did slutty. She wore revealing clothes in bright colours that were obviously bought at a store for drag-queens and was always whining about something, anything. She got into the habit of calling me "Jono" and Honda "Hondie Tottie", and would late at her ridiculous wit while Honda and I growled, Otogi grimacing, but giving us the signal to put up with it, or else. Who knew what kind of nicknames she had for Otogi.  
  
One night when we met her after work she told me she had a girlfriend she could set me up with, and that I looked so lonely that I could die. That was weird...I wasn't really lonely, and I hadn't felt lonely. Since when does someone look lonely?  
  
We were sitting at the same bar where she worked and where we first met her. She was sitting comfortably in Otogi's lap and Honda was beside me, but was able to avoid the conversation by pretending to be interested in the new little rock band playing in the corner.  
  
Wish I'd thought of that.  
  
I started to panic as Mango went on about this friend of hers. I saw the look Otogi was giving me. It was a sympathetic look, but not that sympathetic. I tried to tell her that I just wasn't interested. She obviously didn't get the clue.  
  
"Don't be ridiculous, Jono!" she chimed cheerfully while playfully slapping my hand that was stretched halfway across the table. I pulled it back, but she was still grinning. "You'll love Cookie! She's the best." Yeah, she was trying to set me up with one of her girlfriends named "Cookie". Now right away I didn't like the idea.  
  
"She's funny and she's pretty and she just had her second baby!" Mango was still going on about this girl while I was biting my lip, trying to tell her that I didn't want to go.  
  
I couldn't find anything to say at the time. Judging by the look that Otogi was giving me, I'd be smart not to say anything about the situation. When she left the table to powder her nose, that was when Honda came back to earth and rejoined us at the table. Otogi winced as though he knew I was going to bite his head off.  
  
"Jounouchi, before you say anything, don't worry. I met this Cookie girl and she's clean!"  
  
Like that would fix the situation! I didn't give a shit or not if she was clean or whatever, I just didn't want to meet her or go out with her or anything. Did I look that desperate? I didn't think I was giving off the impression that I was. That's besides the fact that I'm gay! Maybe I should ask Mango if she has an ex-boyfriend she could hook me up with.  
  
Honda pulled out a cigarette and started smoking it. The smell and smoke brought me out of my thoughts.  
  
I scoffed at Otogi. "I don't care if this Cookie girl is clean. I don't want to go out with an whore named after a baked good your slutty girlfriend hooked me up with!" He would have gotten mad at me for calling Mango slutty, but he called her that at least ten times a day. Sometimes even when she was with him. She didn't seem to mind.  
  
Otogi shrugged and sat back, taking a swig of his nearly empty beer. He'd been drinking all night, probably to douse himself and pull himself away from Mango's annoying voice. Sometimes I wonder how he can stand her. Yeah sure, for a straight guy, she would be pretty fine, but she was so annoying. I couldn't even imagine them having sex together. From what Otogi said, when he pounds into her she screeches like telephone and copper wires were slapping against each other. Honda laughed at that. I winced.  
  
"Fine, go ahead and be rude." He told me, setting down his now empty beer. I looked at it. That was his third beer of the evening. "It doesn't bother me what you do."  
  
"Well..." I paused. "What do I do? I don't want to give her the wrong idea!" What wrong idea? That I was a choosy, arrogant bastard and that I didn't deserve the Cookie girl? Yeah sure, if anything that would help me out of this mess!  
  
"How the hell should I know?" Otogi shrugged. "Make something up." He pretended to think for a moment. "Tell her you're taken, or married."  
  
"Say you've got a kid somewhere." Honda piped in, breathing smoke out across the table and watching it snake into the black air.  
  
Otogi was still thinking. I could tell he was thinking for real because his nose was scrunched up. "Hmm...tell her you have schizophrenia. Your penis was chopped off, you're really a woman..."  
  
I thought for a moment. Any of those excuses sounded valid to say the very least. Maybe even a few of them would work. But none of them were quite to my liking. I tapped my fingers on the table and thought for a little while. The smoke from Honda's cigarette drifted into my face and the smell of beer was intoxicating. What could I tell Mango so that I would have to go out with this Cookie girl?  
  
Suddenly I got an idea. I wondered if it would seem too obvious to them, but I really hoped it wouldn't. I looked up. "What if I told her I was gay?"  
  
Otogi was about to take a sip of his beer but stopped it in mid air. Honda did the same with his cigarette. Both of them looked at me with widened eyes question remarks on their features. I bit down on my lip, cursing myself inwardly for letting myself blurt it out like that.  
  
After a moment that the bar seemed to go completely quiet, Otogi shook his head. "No bitch," he laughed softly. "Don't even joke about that."  
  
Honda nodded and they started to chuckle. I chuckled too, except nervously. I sighed softly when they started to talk about something. I rested my chin on my fist and stared at the half-empty beer in front of me. To Honda and Otogi it would look as though I was still trying to figure out how to get myself outta the Cookie mess. I was really contemplating about the whole me being gay thing.  
  
I knew I couldn't keep it from Honda and Otogi forever. Maybe they were a little suspicious, since I said that last statement. I didn't think so though. They both had a lot to drink so far; chances are they wouldn't remember what I said tomorrow morning. But I was still upset about it. If they couldn't take me being gay as a joke, how could they ever take it for real?  
  
Once again I thought about waiting it out until we were outta school. Then I'd be working full time and wouldn't have too much time to see them anymore. I'd be going to raves and billiards and stuff, maybe I could find new friends that wouldn't judge me because I was gay.  
  
Yeah, I know that's taking the coward's way out, but I just couldn't have a tough skin when it came to this stuff. I don't think I could face what they would have to say to me.  
  
Mango came back a little after that. She plopped herself down on Otogi's lap and started complaining that it smelled like cheap perfume in the bathroom. Honda turned his back to them again by looking at the rock band. He really hated Mango, probably more than I did, but he didn't want to show it.  
  
Once again Mango prompted me with the idea of going out with Cookie. I started to hang my head as she went on and on about how great Cookie was and how she knew we'd be great for each other. I was ready to vomit when she asked if I was game and Otogi butted in and said I'd love to.  
  
I shot him an angry glare but he just grinned back and winked at me, as though he was trying to explain that I'd have fun. Bastard. I'd get him later.  
  
Yeah...so not only had life become so boring, but it was also now at an extremely awkward position. Going out on a double date with Otogi, Mango and this Cookie girl sounded stupid and ridiculous.  
  
Otogi filled me in with the details later on. We were going to some bar/restaurant downtown on a Friday evening. During school that day I never wanted the bell to ring or the clock to move. I tried to think up some excuse as to why I couldn't go. I wanted to say I was sick or I had to work, or that my dad had been hit by a car and I needed to go to the hospital to make sure he was okay. Whatever the reason I could think of I thought long and hard about using. But the evidence was already clear. I didn't want to go on this date and Otogi knew it. I couldn't get off clean without him knowing that I just wanted to get away.  
  
Why couldn't Mango have chosen to torment Honda? Oh wait...he hated her, and she knew this. He made it perfectly clear whenever they were together. While torturing him by bringing him on a double date would have been fun, she would have to put up with him acting like a jackass all evening, if he showed up at all, that is.  
  
Yeah I hated her but I like to think I'm a bit nicer about it. As terrible as it may sound...I can't wait till Otogi dumps her.  
  
I saw Otogi at lunch. He was taking stomach pills. My guess was that he wasn't looking forward to this date either for whatever reason. Maybe he sensed that I was going to kill him for making me go on this date. He sat down with me for a little while at lunch and instead of chugging a pop, like he usually did at lunch; he had a bottle of Peptol Bismol in his hand. Man, he must have felt like shit.  
  
"What with you?" I asked, chewing on my cafeteria-bought sandwich and sipping down a Coke. I tried not to sound irritated or angry with him, but in truth I kinda was. But I was sure he already knew it.  
  
Otogi chugged the creamy pink medicine, making me grimace. After he swallowed, he shrugged. "Not feeling so hot." He confessed.  
  
This brought up hope in me. Maybe if Otogi was sick, he couldn't go on the date. And if he couldn't go, maybe I wouldn't have to.  
  
He left after that and I didn't see him for the rest of the day. He didn't say anything about the date so I was confused as to whether or not it was still on. I couldn't take any chances so I supposed it was still on. The last bell rang and while other kids ran out of the school cheering and screaming, I lugged out with a heavy heart, my backpack thrown over my shoulder and my fists shoved in my pockets, staring at my feet as I walked.  
  
Maybe this date wouldn't be so bad. I was probably thinking it was worse than it would really be. Maybe this Cookie girl wouldn't be as dumb as I thought she would be. Perhaps she would have relevant things to say, and we'd find some neat things to talk about. I knew she's probably be expecting me to talk about sports or cars or food. But there could have been some things we could talk about.  
  
Suddenly this date didn't sound so bad after all. And Otogi would be there, so that wasn't too bad. At least I could talk to him if I needed male company. I kept thinking about it as I walked home. Maybe this date would be kind of fun.  
  
As I was walking home, I could feel the heat of the sun on the back of my blonde head and the weight of my backpack on my already aching shoulders. Keeping my head down at this point I couldn't tell what the shops on the street were doing, but I couldn't really care.  
  
To my surprise I found myself nearly walking right past the art gallery without at least stopping to look at it. At this I stopped and stared at the front of the building. I grinned inwardly. A small part of me wanted to go inside and see "Merciful Death" right about now, just to look at it for merely a second, as though I believe it would wish me luck with this date together. Perhaps the figures in the paint would come alive and tell me everything would be okay.  
  
I hadn't been to see the painting in a long time, and I wanted to see it now more than ever. I decided that when the date was over, if it wasn't too late and if the art gallery hadn't closed, I would go in for a long, well- waited visit.  
  
The thought about the painting brought me to the thought about the boy that I had seen in the art gallery. Interesting enough since this whole double date fiasco, I hadn't thought about him once. Usually his very presence and the memory of his being flooded my mind with thoughts and questions, longings and searching. It had been blocked lately, but suddenly it was coming back. Almost like this art gallery illuminated his aura.  
  
I was running late as it was. I hurried down the street away from the art gallery in order to keep time with my schedule. Otogi would be picking me up sometime around six and that gave me about forty-five minutes to get ready. With a quick glance at my crystal-scratched watch, I gave a little gasp and sprint the rest of the way to my apartment.  
  
I thought some more about things as I was taking a shower. I thought more about the painting, and about the boy I had seen. I wondered why I hadn't seen him again since that night. It had been at least a few weeks since I saw him, and I'd only been to see the painting once since then, and that was in the morning on my way to school. I was rather surprised that the art gallery was open that early.  
  
That painting. It's almost ridiculous how I obsess over that thing. It's a mere piece of cloth spread out to fit in a frame with paint splashed about it to resemble something truly unethical and meaningless. But perhaps that was the beauty of it altogether. It was never really meant to mean anything, it was just an image that brought me to a state of complete tranquillity. Whether it was the mystery of the actions of the image, or just the shock of it all put together, I wasn't sure. All I knew was that my love for that painting was deep.  
  
Loving a painting, I'll bet you've never heard of anything more ridiculous, eh? But man if you had ever seen "Merciful Death" for only a mere moment, you'd be hooked on it too, like I was the first time I saw it. If I ever gather enough money to buy it, I'll take a picture and send a copy to you, just to see what you think.  
  
My thoughts were pulled from the painting back towards the date. I knew I didn't have a lot of time to get ready, although I knew I wouldn't need all that time. I thought back insecurely to a little tip Otogi had given me the night he had told Mango that I would "love" to go on the date.  
  
Right before dropping me off he raised his eyebrows. "Remember, before every big date, you gotta jack. At least once."  
  
I remember scowling at him with one leg sticking out of the car. "Wha?"  
  
Otogi rolled his eyes as though he was teaching his impossible little brother all about sexuality and men. "Come on, Jou. It's not hard. You know what to do."  
  
Yeah I heard that a lot of boys jacked before big dates. I guess it was because they didn't want no hard-on in the middle of their date. It was a weird thought for me though. I was gay, so this Cookie chick, as hot as she was, wouldn't give me a fuckin' hard-on if she threw a bucket of water down her shirt and took off her bra.  
  
I paused and then grimaced. Ugh...there's something about the female body that made me really...I dunno.  
  
Timidly I peered down at my limp member. Something weird came over me. Would Otogi be able to tell if I jacked or not that night? He was a pretty weird guy that way...he seemed to know anything that happened even a hundred miles away. After I blurted out that I should tell Mango I was gay, I didn't want Otogi to get an even more critical impression of me.  
  
Hmm...tough decision. To jack or not to jack?  
  
Otogi would be able to tell if I didn't. Something inside me already told me that he would notice it right away. And I didn't necessarily have to think about girls...shit I never did.  
  
I swallowed just a little lightly as I gently touched my limp member, trying to excite myself, at the same time wondering why I was letting it get to me. But right now it didn't seem too bad. I could feel the gentle sensational caress of my fingertips against my skin making the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, and the rest of my skin to get goose-bumps, despite the fact that I was in the shower under a blanket of hot water.  
  
I closed my eyes, while desperately thinking of something sexy as I felt the blood from every crevice in my body travel down excitedly to my groan. I could feel myself becoming hard the more I caressed, grasping now and then, letting little moans past my lips as I did so.  
  
This sounds weird...but sometimes I fantasized about Otogi...which is inappropriate because he is a major homophobic and not to mention that he's my best friend. In real life I'd think it'd be weird, but in my dreams it was nearly a reality. I bit my lip. I couldn't help thinking about Otogi now...strange as it was we were about to go on a double date together with two girls.  
  
I was getting harder, and sucking in my breath I grasped my member in my hand, slumping back against the shower wall, although I found that usually never helped. Shutting my eyes even tighter, I suddenly imagined that it was Otogi at my crotch, gently touching me with his hand, while whispering to me sweet nothings. Maybe he was even kissing my neck a little. Whatever we were doing in my fantasy, it was getting hotter by the minute.  
  
Soon I was fully erect, and grabbed my hard-on more tightly. I gasped at the pressure, but wanting more of it, I started to release the grip and then grasp again, over and over. My breath quickened.  
  
I imagined Otogi was now running his fingers up and down my chest, and then gently letting them fall against my skin in tune with his body, as he sank lower and lower until he was crouched down on his knees, with his face merely inches from my arousal. I could imagine him gently caressing my thighs before licking his lips at the sight of my hard, weeping member.  
  
Absent-mindedly I ran my thumb over the tip. I shuddered and let out a slightly louder moan. I imagined Otogi leaned forward just close enough to sweep the tip of his tongue out over my tip, catching the pre-cum that was leaking out. When he brought his tongue back to his lips, he savored the taste sensually, closing his eyes as though it were a rare, forbidden sweet that he was finally able to taste. He let out a soft moan in his throat that caused me to moan too.  
  
Suddenly I couldn't take it. I started to pump my member the fastest I could, careful to maintain the amount of pressure I put on the sensitive skin. I imagine Otogi had suddenly latched himself onto my lower half and his mouth had fully engulfed my member. I thrust out with my hips, begging to be touched and pleasured even more.  
  
Otogi was grabbing at my thighs now to steady himself as he got comfortable on his knees and began to bob his head up and down on my pulsing cock. He would drag out his tongue so that it traced the veins and cleaned the pre- cum before plunging back down to the base and burying his nose into my pubic hair.  
  
He would keep his mouth there for a moment, as I would look down to see what he was doing. The sight of him latched to my member just made me want to cum right then and there. I was breathing so hard now, moans escaping regularly. "Oh Gods...Otogi..."  
  
He deep-throated me.  
  
I let out a loud scream of a moan and I increased the speed and pressure all at the same time, releasing my seed right then and there all over the shower tiles. I was shaking but trying to imagine Otogi was drinking up every last bead of cum left over from my orgasm. He would pull back and grin, kissing me on the lips, letting me taste myself on my tongue.  
  
I leaned against the shower wall, panting heavily, my hand at my side. I was sure my face was red as a cherry, and I was unsure as to how long I had been in there, showering and jacking. I was so distracted I barely realized that the water had turned ice cold. Wincing at the cold contact after a firey hot orgasm, I pulled myself out of the shower, turning off the water, and sitting down on the toilet.  
  
Yeah, I know what you're thinking. It is pretty helpless thinking sexually about a friend of yours whose straight. Furthermore who has a passionate hatred for homosexuals. That got me a little down. I didn't want to see myself as the object of someone's hatred...although that was basically all I was when I lived with my dad.  
  
I shuddered. It wasn't because of the cold fog that moved about the room or the feeling of taking a shower in cold water. I huddled myself together. Shit...I hoped by now I'd be able to forget about all that...move on with my life, be a better person. But no matter what I did, or how far I ran, that asshole always came back to haunt me. I fucking hated him for it.  
  
I was doing better now. I was living on my own, but that wouldn't have been if not for Otogi, and I say this truthfully. Most of the time he seems like the kinda guy who'd rather brush his hair than try to save someone from drowning. But the truth is, he kinda saved me in a way. He seemed to be the only one who recognized the bruises on my cheeks or the broken ribs. He knew what was going on, even if I told him I fell down some steps or got into a fight. He knew, and I was afraid he knew.  
  
That was back when we weren't so great of friends. And why would we be? He was this gorgeous, sexy millionaire who invented his own game and had his own cheer-leading fan-club, and I was just a little blonde nobody who was poor as hell and got beaten alot, like a puppy who'd been kicked too many times. Sometimes I'd look at him in school, and when I hung out with Anzu all she did was talk about him.  
  
We never really talked a lot until one day he asked me why I was limping, and I told him what I had told everyone else.  
  
"Oh yeah, that..." I laughed. "I kinda tripped over a chair and down some stairs. Heh, pretty clumsy, eh?" Yeah sure, it was embarrassing, but I needed to come up with something a little more creative than my usual "got in a fight" excuse. Everyone else either laughed at my clumsiness or told me to keep an eye out. But not Otogi. He didn't buy any of it, and I remember walking away from him and seeing him with a deadly suspicious glare on his face.  
  
When I came home with a new bruise on my cheekbone, that was when he got into his no-nonsense routine. Right after gym class he pulled me aside and confronted me about it, saying that he knew I was being beaten and that I shouldn't be covering it up. At first I tried to argue with him, tell him he was crazy, but after awhile I just broke down. I was crying and shivering, and telling him that I didn't want to be a punching bag anymore.  
  
It was Otogi that got me out of my dad's place. He told the police, who arrested my dad for child abuse, and rented me out an apartment to stay in. True, I owed Otogi a lot. It was even better that after that we became friends. He was someone I felt safe around, for the strangest reason.  
  
But just as safe as I felt around him, there were things I wouldn't ever be able to tell him. Such as the fact that I was gay. I couldn't tell anyone that. If I told my father, he'd probably kill me and dump my body in the river or something. If I told Otogi, I was sure he'd disown me as a friend and give me the cold shoulder whenever I walked into a room. I didn't know about Honda, but I suspected that he would tell me I was sick and to never talk to him again.  
  
I think I felt something splash on my knee, and something did. When I looked down I realized tears were falling, and I hadn't noticed. I wiped them away the best I could, only to find that they kept coming. Silently.  
  
God, I fucking did not want to go on this date tonight. I couldn't. Maybe I could just stay home, and stay by myself, or tell Otogi that I couldn't go out on account of my painful memories. I was kinda sure he would let me stay if I used that excuse.  
  
I was still crying when I dragged myself away from the bathroom, not bothering to put on a towel because I was already dry and because there was no one else there except for me. I went down the hallway towards my bedroom, thinking that the apartment seemed unfamiliarly cold and unfamiliar to me. The walls around me were bare, and that brought more tears. Most of the times, when I went to friends houses, their hallway walls were covered with pictures of them and their families, or perhaps when they were little kids, running naked on the lawn against the sprinkler, or perhaps it was on vacation, waving to the camera from a hundred feet roller-coaster.  
  
Those were things I never had. I don't mean the pictures; I've always had some pictures of my family before my folks got divorced. Was I meant was what was going on in those pictures. Memories. Happy memories. I didn't have any of those.  
  
I threw on a pair of clean boxers and jeans, and besides the point that we were going to some stupid sleazy bar somewhere downtown, it was still somewhat of a date, even though I didn't want to go on it, so I put on my dress shirt, black. It was probably the nicest article of clothing I owned. I combed out my hair and stood and looked at myself in front of the chipped, unframed mirror. I stared at myself.  
  
Gods, I hated that person who looked back at me. That tall, scrawny kid with a Brooklyn accent, a smart-ass reputation and nothing in his history file but beatings, neglecting and heartbreak. I didn't know what others thought of me when they saw me on the street, but I was sure they saw me the way I saw me. I hated myself. Passionately.  
  
The sad, slow, painful thing about it was that there was not a damn thing I could do about it. Or so it seemed, at the time. It only seemed to be getting worse, and intolerable. I never liked to feel sorry for myself, or express my self-woe in public, so I kept it all inside. Maybe that was the problem all along.  
  
I needed someone. Maybe that was it. Yeah! I needed someone, here with me in this apartment. I was usually lonely, although I often told people I loved living alone, although most of the time it was false. I needed someone who would stay with me until the end, who would live with me here in this apartment. I could imagine it. Coming home to see him sitting on the couch, and smiling when I walked in. Or going into the kitchen and seeing him making something exquisite, because I couldn't cook to save my life. To laugh with when I was feeling sad, or to talk to when I needed someone to talk to. Maybe to be there next to me when I woke up in the morning. Someone to love...  
  
That made me stop.  
  
Someone to love...  
  
And someone who would love me.  
  
Finally, for the first time in a long time, it seemed over that week, I smiled. A true, genuine smile. I ran a nervous hand through my shaggy blonde hair and nodded to my reflection, noticing the hope that gleamed in those amber eyes.  
  
Yes, I needed and wanted someone to love. Someone who wouldn't use me as a punching bag when he was drunk and I came in late, or who wouldn't disown me for being gay, or who wouldn't pack up my sister and leave the country to never call again. Someone who liked and loved me for who I was. That was all I needed in life now.  
  
I'd been pretty much abandoned all my life, but with this little realization, perhaps I could find someone who would like me enough to stay.  
  
All I had to do was look. And I knew it. Look, and be patient.  
  
At quarter to six I heard a honk outside my front door, and looking out the window I saw Otogi sitting in his car, gesturing me with his free hand to come down, we were already running late. I nodded, taking my key off the little table and locking the door, I checked my breath, my pits, and nodded in satisfaction. With the apartment locked and yours truly looking and feeling much better than before, I skipped down the steps and into Otogi's car.  
  
Otogi noticed two things about me. I only imagined he'd voice one of them.  
  
"You look unusually chipper." He said, raising a black eyebrow in curiosity, wondering what, if anything, I was up to.  
  
I couldn't help but grin at him. My realization had made me temporarily the happiest I had been in a long time. "Well, just sorta came to my senses." I claimed.  
  
He nodded, and then he flashed his toothy grin at me, making me shiver slightly. He nodded to my pants. "I see you 'spanked the monkey'. Good going."  
  
When he started up the car I suddenly realized what he was talking about. I looked down at my pants swiftly and then up again, glad that these jeans were fairly tight in case...well. But I was amazed Otogi was able to tell. Although I was pretty sure he would in the first place, and I knew he would have scolded me if I hadn't done it.  
  
I relaxed and settled back into the leather seat of the passenger seat of Otogi's car. After everything I had thought about tonight, and everything I had sort of come to realize, I was glad to have remembered to jack. Very glad.  
  
Yeah...no Seto, I'm sorry. But I hope you liked this chapter anyway. Next chapter, big date. Will it go great, so great that Jou gets laid despite his sexuality, or will it go totally wrong? And what will Seto have to say about it all, if he decides to show himself, that is.... 


	5. Chapter Four

I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh   
  
Chapter Four  
  
The car ride turned into a long one...or maybe that was just me. It was a reasonably warm night but I was thankful that Otogi's car had air conditioning. The sun was just setting and casting its soft gaze of light through the trees. Most of the shops were open and crowded with people. I looked out the window at them, knowing they would have a great evening. I was still to discover how mine would be.  
  
Very little was really said between Otogi and me in the car ride. He was concentrating on his driving with a smoke in-between his lips. I suppose he guessed I was still mad at him for setting me up on this date. But I wasn't too mad afterall, and the car ride was a nice, pleasant opportunity to really think about some things. Regardless of how this date would go, I knew what I had to do later to be happy.  
  
Some things about the date worried me still. I wondered if I would have to...y'know, touch her leg from under the table, or escort her to the salad bar, or take her home at the end of the night. And if she had two kids, I'd guess that she was pretty easy, and expecting me to touch and feel. I admit, that made me a little nervous, but I had to at least put up a fair fight. Maybe if I acted like a total jerk, Cookie would hate me and Otogi would never set me up with another girl again. At least that sounded promising.  
  
Glancing at Otogi I wondered if it was at all worth it. I kind of doubted it, but maybe it would help.  
  
Otogi looked really good sitting in the driver's seat right then. Maybe it was the light of the falling sun or the mere profile of his perfect face. Either way he looked great. It really was a good thing that I had decided to jack after all. I couldn't help but get a sick feeling that he knew I jacked off thinking about him. I think I went white. But he couldn't be that telepathic. If he knew, I bet he would have kicked me out of the car.  
  
"What's with you?" he asked me suddenly breaking the silence between us.  
  
I looked over at him. He was still concentrating on the road, using both his hands to turn. I didn't know what he meant at first. Then I decided to give him a hint. "Deciding how to kick your sorry ass for making me go on this stupid date." I replied bluntly, hiding a little smile.  
  
Otogi sighed deeply, and removed the cigarette from his lips with his right hand, using the left to steer. "Shit," he muttered. "Look, I know I fucked you over, and I'm sorry." He wasn't sorry. I could see that he was hiding a smug, triumphant grin. "But you gotta get out and see more chicks. If you play your cards right, you'll get laid tonight for sure."  
  
I was quiet.  
  
'Will you be the one to fuck me?' I thought inwardly.  
  
"Yeah, I know." I decided to play along for now so Otogi wouldn't get suspicious. "This Cookie girl had better not have AIDS of anything or else I will kill you."  
  
Now he smiled. "Fair enough." He agreed. I had the feeling he would now get into a more playful mood, which with Otogi was always fun. He turned to me. "Aw come on, you'll have fun, you know you will."  
  
I gave him a sarcastic chuckle, staring down at my lap. "Yeah fun. Sure sounds like fun."  
  
We were talking comfortably about stuff that friends usually do, and interesting enough I didn't feel anything weird, not about jacking while thinking of him. I wondered if he like somehow magically turned gay, would we be together? And if we were would he be the dominant one, like when we had sex? Yeah, I bet he would. He was the kind of guy to take over in a relationship, or in anything really.  
  
"Hey look, there's the starfish shrimp!" Otogi suddenly said, pointing out the window.  
  
I looked out, and sure enough there was Yugi Motou walking down the side of the street with his backpack over his shoulder. He was probably going home. My heart sank.  
  
I used to make fun of Yugi...a lot! I'd make fun of his hair or how high his voice was, and then when he cried I'd never let him hear the end of it. I'd call him names, I'd pick on him, I'd slap him around, and I never regretted it. Otogi joined in and assisted in picking on him. Together we had made Yugi cry and hurt him so badly that the next day he wouldn't be in school. Even Anzu, with all her bullshit talk about friendship, wouldn't stand up for him. He didn't have a friend in the school, and he didn't have any parents but lived in a game shop run by his grandfather. He was probably lonely, aching for a friend, that was probably why he was always crying, and I never felt sorry for him.  
  
It was about a week later that I, and the rest of the school, found out that Yugi was gay. Apparently he kissed a boy in the boy's washroom; someone saw, took a picture and made it a total propaganda all over the school. This, in a sense, changed everything.  
  
Now half the homophobic school was beating on him every hour he was in school. At lunch he would be chased and pounded on. At lunch kids would throw their food at him, and some of the teachers had even started ignoring him too. He had limps and new bruises, but he never told on them, or fought back. He would just smile. He was stronger than I had first imagined.  
  
Whenever I walked past him, he would cringe or hide, expecting me to hit him. But I'd walk past him. How could I hurt him now that I knew he was like me? Not accepted?  
  
I tried to tell myself it was his own fault for letting himself be found out, but he got hurt so much for just being himself that I couldn't help but feel sympathetic for him. Sometimes I kind of wanted to talk to him so we could...discuss stuff, but Yugi was afraid of me, and Otogi was with me. So I couldn't really talk to him.  
  
Or apologize.  
  
Otogi rolled down the window, grinning from ear to ear, and my heart sank at the thought of what he was planning to do to the poor kid. "Wanna slow down and see if he'll run?" he asked, and the car slowed down.  
  
I growled inwardly. Otogi was worse to Yugi these days than I was. If he so much as saw the kid in the hallway, bam and Yugi would bite his lip and try not to cry, but he would, and run off trying to hide it. Otogi would laugh and taunt him, and I was ashamed to say I walked beside Otogi when he did it, and never once told him to stop.  
  
"Nah, its Friday." I said to Otogi. I figured Yugi deserved at least a little time to let the beatings heal. "Let's just leave him alone." I propped my arm up on the window and tried to seem absent of mind as I stared out at the passing buildings along the road. If Otogi was going to harass Yugi today, I wouldn't be a part of it.  
  
Otogi honked the horn, and out of the corner of my eye I saw Yugi look over at us. I think he thought we were going to get out and chase him because he suddenly looked really scared. Poor little bastard.  
  
"Oi faggot!" Otogi had his head out the window and was screaming at Yugi. I rubbed my forehead, overcome with humiliation. "Going home to suck off your grandfather? That's all you're good for!"  
  
I saw the hurt spread over Yugi's face, and any minute now he would start crying. I bit down on my lip, my knuckles turning white. If Otogi ever dared to say that to me, I would have punched his face in. But Yugi couldn't be so brave to save his life. We passed Yugi and Otogi was laughing. I was really close to telling him to go fuck himself.  
  
"You sure you don't wanna stop?" he asked me, and I saw the mischievous look in his eyes and in the details of his sketched grin. "It'd be fun."  
  
I looked in the rear-view mirror. Yugi was walking with his hands in his pockets and his head down. Yeah, he was crying for sure.  
  
I shook my head and sighed. "Nah, we'll be late for the date." That was a valid enough excuse. It seemed to fool him.  
  
He shrugged. "Whatever." And he picked up speed and drove on. Yugi disappeared from out sight within a moment.  
  
Great, now I'd have this riding on my head for the rest of the evening, which I really didn't need. Aside from the stupid date, I had to think about Yugi. I guess the kid really didn't deserve it. He never said anything bad against me or Otogi, at least to my knowledge, or any of the other kids who gave him a hard time. He didn't do anything. Would they beat me up like they did Yugi if I admitted aloud that I was gay?  
  
I'd get the living daylights kicked and punched outta me, but I could fight back, that was my advantage. Yugi was tiny and weak, so he couldn't do anything but stand there, take the beating and hope his teeth didn't get knocked out. But I was stronger, bigger, and had a whole history of beating behind me. Despite the fact I couldn't punch out my dad, that whole lifestyle did teach me to fight back. Now no one got far insulting me without getting at least a threat thrown back at them. Obviously I had developed a reputation of being a street punk, who was good in some ways. Some kids wouldn't even dare to look at me.  
  
We pulled further into the downtown area, and the drive was very quiet since we had seen Yugi. I sometimes wondered if Otogi ever regretted anything he said or did to Yugi, but by the way he always continued to harass him, I'd say not. I was immediately ashamed with myself, with Anzu, and with anyone else who never said anything about the harassing. It really wasn't right, at all.  
  
The car stopped, somewhat abruptly, and I mind myself stumbling out of the car and standing in front of a very crowded bar I'd been to once. I sighed deeply, running my hand through my hair, and then straightening out my shirt. Okay, here we go. Time for this date to go very badly.  
  
Otogi slammed the door to the driver's seat and flicked away the cigarette he just lit. Blowing out the smoke he stood and stared at the bar, as though deeply contemplating something. Maybe he didn't want to go in there as much as I didn't want to go in there. I was practically pleading to him in my brain to ask if I wanted to go somewhere else and ditch the girls. It would make no difference to me, and I would rather go and grab a steak somewhere anyway.  
  
But my hopes were not fulfilled. He sighed and then grinned at me, walking towards me, he placed his hands on my shoulders. I quickly glanced at his hands on my shoulders and then scowled at him in confusion. What, was he about to give me more of his manly advice?  
  
"Jou," he said in a fatherly tone, although I think it was on purpose. "Go in there, turn your charms on, and impress the shit out of that girl and have her screaming for you to fuck her by the end of the evening. I know you can do it."  
  
I smirked. Easier said than done.  
  
He smacked my shoulder again and then ruffled my hair. "I know you can do it, you jock." He began to walk away, swaying his hips in those tight leather pants, and I couldn't help but gawk at him as he did that. However thoughts kept going through my head.  
  
Did he say those things because we had seen Yugi or something? Is that why he called me a jock? Well...he called me a jock on a regular basis, I suppose for obvious reason. But why'd he say the stuff before? Was it because he was ribbing on Yugi, who was gay, and he suspected me of being gay? Was I close? Was I warm? It was too hard to tell with Otogi. He'd say the weirdest things.  
  
Very nervously, I followed him into the bar. Like most other bars, the intoxicating scent of cheap beer and cigarette smoke flooded my nostrils. I wondered when we'd go to a nice bar, but I'd probably have to wait until I turned 18. In cheap places that you found along the highway, like this place, they didn't ask you your age. There were a lot of places like this.  
  
There wasn't a live band on tonight, but instead they were showing some American game on the tiny television that a lot of people were gathering around. I stole a quick glance at it. Some really violent sport that I didn't recognize, involved guys wearing shoulder pads and helmets, kicking around a lemon-shaped ball. I shook my head. Guys loved this violent stuff, but I didn't understand why they didn't just broadcast Duel Monsters on public television. Then again most of the tournaments were private and such.  
  
I used to play Duel Monsters. Kind of obsessively too. But since I met Otogi and Honda, there was a lot more of going to bars and picking up loose women then there was worrying about some silly card game that, according to Otogi, "only fags played", and then he furthered his point when we saw Yugi was carrying some around. After that I was kind of glad I didn't play them anymore. The game was interesting enough and it was fun for the time, but it had its day.  
  
Otogi was heading towards the back and I followed behind him quickly. It was amazing to me how he always knew just were everyone was. Maybe he had ESP or something. But he was walking right towards the back, and I instantly heard the nails on the chalkboard voice screech out "Otogi sweetie! Over here!"  
  
I sucked in a deep, deep breath, and tried to see the Cookie girl at first from afar. Unluckily Otogi was blocking my view with that fine leather-clad ass of his. But once he moved out of the way to sit down with Mango, I saw Cookie.  
  
Okay, she was pretty, I'll give you that. She was this slim creature who even sitting down was taller than Mango. She had this long red hair that fell down over her shoulders and unevenly cut bangs that draped over her deep forest green eyes. She had at least four earrings in each ear, a matching pair of earrings in the shape of chocolate chip cookies, and one on her nose. She was wearing a very tight and somewhat revealing black halter-top that looked like it had been pulled down just a little too far. I didn't see what she was wearing on the bottom.  
  
She looked...somewhat intrigued, I suppose you could say, when she saw me standing there. I suppose she guessed that I was her date, but she wasn't about to belly-ache about it. That was a bit of a relief.  
  
Mango took the opportunity to introduce us. "Jou, this is Cookie. Cookie honey, this is Jou, he's Otogi's friend, the one I was telling you about."  
  
Cookie nodded, and gave me a soft smile. I could tell instantly, just by the look on her face, that she didn't want to be here as much as I did, but she thought we might as well make the most of it. At least she was a good sport for going through all this. I sat down in the seat closest to Otogi but close enough to Cookie that I wouldn't seem rude. We ordered a few beers and a few cartons of cigarettes.  
  
Then all for the most part was quiet.  
  
"So, how do you two know each other?" I asked Cookie and Mango, looking between them briefly just as the beers and cigarettes came.  
  
Otogi grabbed a bottle of beer quickly and opened it just as Mango nodded and decided to answer my question. "Oh, well-"  
  
"Mango was a receptionist at the clinic where I went to get tested for AIDS," Cookie suddenly said around her cigarette, and when I looked at her she had this blank expression on her face, and I wondered if she said this to scare me off, or to give me ideas.  
  
Mango just laughed. "Well, I wasn't a receptionist, I was more of a...clipboard...person."  
  
That was my cue to grab a beer, and I grabbed one as fast as I could. I snapped open the cap and took a long, good swig. I sure as hell could use it right about now. Otogi was already breaking open a carton of cigarettes and knocked one out for me. Mango didn't smoke, and by the looks of it, neither did Cookie.  
  
Conversation was limited to rather boring topics throughout the first hour. I drank as much beer and smoked as many cigarettes as I could before we ordered a plate of egg rolls and snacked on those for a little while. There wasn't really talk of getting actual dinner.  
  
Cookie gave small signals that she was interested in me. She asked me odd questions, like if my hair colour was my original hair colour, because in Japan blonde hair can be rare. Or she'd ask if I were interested in big, loud vehicles, or violent foreign games. I tried to be nice, I gave her little smiles and chuckled now and then, but it was just an awkward presence from the beginning. She then found it in her best interest to show me pictures of her two infant children. I was somewhat amazed she carried pictures of them around. As I suspected, she gave them somewhat goofy names.  
  
Momentarily we all got talking about something, some headline in the paper or some current event that was going on in some other country. I mostly spoke when I was spoken to but for the most part I kind of zoned out. It was just as well. I was hoping this date would go by as quick as possible.  
  
The ashtray on the table was filling up fast, and the beers were collecting. I wasn't sure but I think everyone was at least a little tipsy. Mango suddenly started laughing about something Otogi had said and told Cookie about it, and then they both started laughing.  
  
I realized how glad I was that Otogi and Mango were there. If it were just Cookie, and me the whole night would have been over a long time ago, and it would have ended fairly badly. Mango and Cookie were able to talk about stuff, and that was a good opportunity for me to interact with Otogi some more throughout the evening. In the end, it was more just a gathering of friends than it was a double date.  
  
At around ten o'clock, that was when the action of the evening began to brew. I didn't know it at first, I was deep in conversation with everyone at the table at the time. I was actually kind of enjoying myself, as much as I hate to admit that. In the end it seemed like I was just a gay guy going out and having fun with my friends. There was no awkwardness; there was no odd pauses or anything. It was just...a good night of conversation, five bucks, and a few smokes.  
  
Then of course it happened.  
  
I started to feel it.  
  
The presence.  
  
It just seemed to wander into the bar, like it was just a casual customer coming in for a late beer to watch the game or something. Whatever the motion, it just strolled in through the smoking atmosphere and hit me right in the head like a brick.  
  
I was suddenly quiet, and rose my head in suspicion, knowing that presence so well yet unable to identify it. I blinked a few times and felt it get stronger as it came closer.  
  
Gripping the back of my seat I swished my head around and searched the bar with my eyes, but to avail to nothing. The bar was pretty crowded, people were sitting at the tables, or gathering around the pool tables, smoking their cigarettes and drinking their cheap beer. There was rock music playing in the old speakers, and the mindless flow of chitchat was escalating.  
  
But still the presence remained, as though it sat itself down on a barstool and just decided to wait the evening out.  
  
There was something...alarmingly familiar about this presence. I knew I had felt it before, and that's why I was suddenly so interested in it. I took a deep inhalation of my cigarette and ground it into the over-flowing ashtray and took the last gulp of my third beer. Then I stood from my seat.  
  
"Be right back guys. I gotta piss." I said, and Otogi smirked, while Mango made a disgusted face, as if to say, 'thanks for sharing'. Cookie seemed indifferent, although I could almost feel her eyes on my back as I turned and walked away from the table.  
  
I walked around the bar, trying to see where the presence felt the strongest, but no matter where I went it was just the same. I walked throughout the four corners of the bar, without going outside, or back to my table. I couldn't find anyone I recognized, or see anything I could account the presence for.  
  
It was really starting to bother me. It was the very same sort of presence that had drawn me that one night to...  
  
I shook out my head, and headed as quickly as I could in the direction of the men's washroom. Maybe if I splashed some water on my face I could just get this presence thing out of my system and not have to worry about it.  
  
I swung open the door to the men's washroom just the quickest I could. I was glad to find it empty. I wasn't about to be sick or anything, but my head was kind of swimming on account of all the beers and smokes I had. I found the grungy sinks in the tiny, graffiti-filled room. There were three stalls and two sinks with a large unframed mirror. I think I stumbled ungracefully into one of the stalls before reaching the sink.  
  
I turned on the faucet and cupped my hands under the water, and not caring that it was icy cold I just threw it into my face. I felt the shock of the water and pushed it aside. It felt great. I think I was beginning to feel a little sick. I guess I had had one too many beers.  
  
For some weird reason I thought back to Yugi, from when we saw him on the sidewalk coming here. I bit my bottom lip, close to chewing it. I was sure that Yugi had probably gone home and cried himself to sleep tonight, and that had made me feel sick to my stomach. The poor kid. I wish there were a way to redeem everything I had said to him.  
  
All thoughts in my mind were silenced when I felt the presence coming towards me. It was strongest at this point, almost as if it were right outside the restroom door. I was frozen, trying to make myself move, but finding it not helping, or working. Icy water soaked through my bangs and ran down in droplets along my jawbone. My hands were shaking; I was staring at myself in the mirror. The presence stopped seemingly just outside the door to the restroom.  
  
I swallowed tightly.  
  
I heard the door to the restroom open.  
  
I don't know who I expected to come inside. Time seemed to freeze as I thought it could have been just about anyone. It could have been Otogi, who'd taken up the time to search for me because I hadn't returned to the table. It could have been anyone in the bar who just needed a break from the cigarette smoke or who was upchucking their intake of alcohol for the evening. It could even have been that one person I had been longing to see for a long time.  
  
It was actually someone I hadn't expected. At all.  
  
"Hey Jou," it was Cookie.  
  
From what I could tell...she was close to wasted. She was holding a half- drunk mug of cheap beer in one hand, and had a bit of trouble maintaining her balance. I looked over at her and she was grinning at me with half- lidded eyes. I shook my head. How long had I been gone? And how many beers had she had tonight?  
  
She was giggling now, holding up a nail-polished finger to her lip and hiccuping once, before she giggled again and looked up at me. "Were you hiding from me?" she giggled again. "I'm really very, very friendly..."  
  
I swallowed and backed up as far as I could, but by then I was leaning against the sink. I stared at her, blinking a few times. I was suddenly aware of one thing; this was the men's restroom. She was a girl, in the men's washroom, and it seemed to be the only thing that came to my defense at the moment.  
  
"Cookie..." I swallowed again, watching her take an unsteady step towards me. "You're...uh, you're in the men's washroom-"  
  
"Aww..." she cooed and grinned as she got closer to me, and still holding the mug she pointed out to me with one finger. "You're soo cute," she said to me, about two feet from me. "You're blushing..."  
  
She suddenly seemed to collapse into me, and I let out a bit of a gasp. She straightened herself out, her free hand flattened on my chest, caressing carelessly the collar of my shirt. She was so close to me, I could thoroughly examine the green of her eyes, and I could smell cigarettes and cheap beer on her breath. It made me want to gag. Her hip touched mine, and I was beginning to panic.  
  
Cookie smiled sweetly at me this time, taking a gulp of her beer and forcing it down, all the time not taking her eyes off mine. At least I thought she was looking at my eyes, but then she began caressing the apples of my cheeks with her glossy fingernails. "You're so cute...blushing like..." she faltered for a moment, and then her eyes glittered for a mere moment. "Like a little puppy..."  
  
I think I scowled, or tried to. Hearing that when I was cute and blushing I resembled a puppy wasn't exactly the greatest pick-up line I had ever heard.  
  
The presence, that hadn't left my mind, even since Cookie had come into the bathroom, suddenly seemed to flare just as those words had left her pink- stained lips. For a mere moment I thought my mind was on fire because this unknown force had become so strong so suddenly.  
  
I didn't have too much time to think about it. Without warning Cookie pressed her lips to mine sloppily and closed her eyes. She slugged her lips around my mouth messily, suddenly forcing her tongue into my mouth before I really had a chance to think. She tasted like the cheap beer she had just had a gulp of. I wanted to be sick.  
  
My mind seemed to come back to gear, and I used both hands to try to push her off. I didn't know how hard to push her, just enough to get her off me, at least. I had my hands on her chest, unexpectedly, and forced her away from me. Once she stumbled back, maintaining her balance, I spat into the sink and wiped my mouth. Ugh, that was disgusting!  
  
Cookie however was giggling again. She once again moved closely to me. "Aww, if you wanted to touch my tits, why didn't you just ask?" she smiled, and setting down her mug on the nearest sink she reached with both hands behind her neck to undo the tie to her halter top. I knew for a fact she wasn't wearing a bra underneath. My bottom lip was shaking in fear; I tried to search for a way out.  
  
Before I knew it, and before she successfully undid her halter-top tie, I lashed out to stop her from doing so. It had been my only self-inflicted movement in what seemed to be years in that small, disgusting bathroom. "Wait! Don't do that!" I told her.  
  
Cookie stared at me, tilting her head just a little to the side with a rather pouting look on her face. And then she smiled again. "Ah, I see." She dropped her arms; thankfully her halter-top was still on. "You want the foreplay, is that it?"  
  
I was about to open my mouth in protest, but suddenly to my horror I saw that she was on her knees in front of me. My eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. Her glossy, finger-nailed fingers dragged down my zipper and unbuttoned my jeans. I swallowed tightly, trying to back up, but finding myself trapped between her and the sink behind me. I gasped, not in pleasure, but rather cold surprise, when I felt her eager fingers sliding down into my pants, past the waistline of my boxers.  
  
I bit my lip tightly, trying to hold back from her touch. Her fingers were cold, and they were rough, and every now and then her fingernails would intensely graze my now awakening member. I would let out little gasps for air in sheer pain of her rough caresses. She, however, had found them gasps of pleasure, and she went on.  
  
I grasped the end of the sink and stared at the window at the far end of the bathroom, trying desperately to think of something else, other than the fact of harshly pushing her away and screaming at her for even touching me. I bit my lip, hard. So hard I was almost sure I could taste blood on my tongue.  
  
Cookie had gone on. Her hand was out of my pants, but both hands were easing my jeans and boxers down off of my hips to my thighs. My mind rushed with panicked thoughts, I almost wanted to cry. I now knew what being raped must have felt like. It was cold, it was harsh, and it felt absolutely terrible.  
  
"Cookie-"I tried to tell her to stop; this had gotten way out of hand, and suddenly I could feel her breath along my flesh that was suddenly exposed to the cold, smoky air of the bathroom. I looked down just in time to see her lick her lips and close them as far as she could around my half-erect shaft.  
  
I let out a gasp at the feeling, that moist warmth that surrounded me brought me intense pleasure, but knowing that it was from a girl, furthermore it being completely against my will, made me try to push her away and run. She seemed to get the sense that I was trying to get her to stop because I was wiggling my hips a bit too much, and she ground her nails into my sides to keep me in place.  
  
I yelped from the pain, feeling two burning sensations at once. The one latched onto my crotch, which I had tried once again to get away from, and that fiery presence in the back of my mind that just seemed to get fiercer and fiercer. My body started shaking from the overload of mixed feelings and emotions. I felt so angry, confused, even a little bit scared. I just wanted out.  
  
I don't know what came over me in that next moment, but suddenly I felt like I had the strength of a thousand men, and I used it to get exactly what I wanted. Taking Cookie's shoulders I violently shoved her away from me, throwing her to the floor. I gasped in pain because it had taken her by surprise, and her teeth had painfully gazed my sensitive skin. I should have thought of that. Sometimes I just don't think.  
  
I held onto one of the sinks tightly until the pain soothed down, and then without looking at Cookie, who was still in her miserable state on the dirty floor, staring up at me, I pulled up my boxers and my jeans, not caring, and perhaps not even noticing, that I was still hard. I swallowed tightly, catching my breath, knowing now that my evening was just completely ruined.  
  
Cookie stared at me from the ground, scowling tightly. She hoisted herself up on her elbows. "What the fuck do you think you're doing?" she snarled at me.  
  
I went bug-eyed. What the fuck was I doing? "What the fuck were YOU doing?" I screeched at her in an uncomfortably feminine shriek. "I do NOT remember giving you fucking permission to out of the blue give me a blow-job in the middle of the men's washroom!"  
  
She rolled her eyes and stood up. She dusted off her halter top and put her fists on her sides, growling at me. "Well what the hell kind of fairy-ass wimp turns down a free job from someone like me?" she asked, and I don't think she was really expecting a reply.  
  
"Me!" I roared at her, and I suddenly had the feeling that the entire bar outside was staring in the direction of the bathrooms just to see what all the fuss was about. I didn't care if people could hear us, I was fucking mad! "I also don't appreciate the fact that you think you can just do it to whoever you want, me included! I'm not like that!"  
  
Hell no was I like that, accepting blow-jobs from a girl I'd only met a few hours ago? Was she expecting me to fuck her right then and there in the bathroom? She must have; I could see where that would have come from. She was pretty loose; I had that feeling from the moment I saw her.  
  
She looked very offended right now. And within the past few minutes I was oblivious as to what had happened. She grabbed the mug from where she placed it down on the sink and threw the remaining beer into my face. The sickening smell of cheap beer flooding my nostrils as it soaked my bangs and ran in droplets down my face. Luckily I closed my eyes in time.  
  
"No one turns down sex from me!" Cookie growled at me. "You're just a dumbass who doesn't know when to take what's offered! I can't believe I agreed to go on this date with you!"  
  
Ditto!  
  
With that I heard her storm out of the bathroom, holding the mug. I was certain that in a rage of fury she was going to throw it down on the floor. I sighed deeply, so glad that she was gone, and I turned back to the mirror and buried my face once again in icy water, trying to get the smell of cheap beer out of my hair.  
  
I stared at myself in the mirror, like I had done before Cookie had come inside. Man, that had been weird. I had never had a girl come onto me so forcefully before. Sure girls liked the look of me, and before I realized I was gay, I'd flirt with them, a lot, and make them think that I'd supply exactly what they wanted. Did I have an aura that spelled sexual energy or something?  
  
The presence had cooled down, that was the main thing I noticed. I was beginning to wonder if I was getting sick, maybe because of the smokes and the beer.  
  
Gods I felt sick...I put a hand on my stomach.  
  
A little too sick maybe...  
  
I couldn't help it. I ran to the nearest toilet stall and clenching my eyes closed I opened my mouth and emptied my stomach. The feeling in my throat began to burn as my knees buckled and I collapsed to the ground, holding onto the toilet bowl just to hold myself up. I was panting just slightly, before I another wave hit me. I threw up again, and then I felt better.  
  
I flushed the toilet and then washed out my mouth. It was then that I realized that my raging erection was very slowly limping. I was in a huge amount of relief. I didn't want to jack there in that disgusting bathroom to an erection that some slut had awakened, probably to be found out by some fat trucker who had a sexual appetite for boys like me. No, I had to get out of there. Fast.  
  
I left the washroom and found that the bar had emptied a little bit. Not a whole ton, but enough to notice. I wondered how long I had been in that bathroom for. It puzzled me. But no one saw me leave, so I guessed no one had heard the yelling afterall.  
  
I made my way over to the table where Otogi and Mango were sitting, necking. Cookie wasn't there, and I couldn't be more grateful. The last thing I needed was to see her again after she tried to rape me in the washroom.  
  
I went up to the table and quickly grabbed my jacket, not looking at Otogi and Mango making out. "I've got to run, I'll see you guys later." I said rather quickly.  
  
Otogi broke away from Mango and gave me a rather confused look. "What's with you, I thought you and Cookie were banging in the bathroom."  
  
I rolled my eyes. "That's what she thought too. I don't know where she went."  
  
Mango sighed. "Shit!" she spat. "Cookie's going to be really mad at me now! Thanks a lot, Jounouchi!"  
  
Otogi scowled at her and told her to shut the fuck up, before turning back to me. "What, are you okay? What's the deal?"  
  
"Yeah, I'm fine." I lied. "I just had too many beers, I gotta get home and throw up some more." I said, and then took out my wallet to pay for my beers. I noticed Mango made a face when I mentioned that I had to throw up.  
  
I put down a ten on the table's surface and Otogi stared at it with a heavy heart in those electric grin eyes. Then he sighed and picked it up, handing it back to me. "I'll get your drinks, man."  
  
I looked at Otogi in surprise. Wow, he was buying my beers? What for?  
  
"I'm sorry about all this," was what he said to me before giving me back the ten bucks, and he sat back taking a long, exasperated drag on his smoke. "It's my fault for all this, just take the ten and go home, get some rest. I'll pick up your drinks."  
  
Normally I wouldn't accept some a favorable action, but I was feeling terrible and I really wanted to get away from the whole memory of tonight. So I gave him a very warm smile, took back my ten bucks and nodded my thanks. "Thanks man, I owe you one."  
  
Otogi nodded and grinned. "Now go home and puke some more, I'll call you later."  
  
"Yeah. See ya." I waved to him and turned my back, suddenly unable to help the smile that spread on my lips. Shit, for a bastard, Otogi can really be a great, considerate friend.  
  
I shoved my hands in my pockets and slugged out of the bar, trying to ignore the sick feeling in my stomach and trying to focus my thoughts on anything but the events of that evening. I was out of the bar soon enough and had never been happier to breathe in the fresh air of the dark Domino City sky.  
  
With a hand placed gently over my stomach, I began walking in the direction of my apartment. I could have taken a bus, but I thought the fresh air would do me some good, especially after all that smoke and beer.  
  
I sighed, and looked at my feet as I walked. Yup, tonight sure had been a crazy one, and when I got home I'd be sure to care Honda and talk to him about it. I was sure he'd be free tonight. I walked carefree, hurrying just a little, to get to my apartment.  
  
Little did I know that this was the night when it all really began.  
  
Yup, I'm sorry. No Seto in this chapter either. But in the next chapter you get to see him plenty, I promise! Please R&R! 


	6. Chapter Five

I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh   
  
A/N: Wow! Thanks for the reviews, guys! You're all awesome! I'm sorry there was no Seto in the last chapter, but you get to see him loads from now on! Hehe! I hope you're as excited as I am!   
  
Chapter Five  
  
Jou's POV   
  
I suppose you could say that one of my greatest fears was being alone, although I would never for anything in the world openly admit it. But people saw me as a teenager who just wanted to sit at home, smoke, drink beer and watch television, while secretly hating the world around him. That wasn't me at all.  
  
Well, maybe it was at times. But not all the time.  
  
One of the factors I overlooked when I moved out of my dad's place was the loneliness. Everyday I came home to a small, grey, dimly lit, smelly apartment. It depressed the hell out of me. Sometimes I thought turning on a few lights would make it look a little warmer and friendlier. But it only made me notice the cracks in the wall and how awful the appliances were. Sometimes I thought getting a pet, like a cat or even some birds would cheer me up when I came home, but I couldn't afford a pet, and I was out of the apartment so much that the poor thing would die itself of loneliness.  
  
I hadn't forgotten the promise to myself to find someone to love. I knew if I tried hard enough I could find someone out there in the big world just for me, who would love me for everything I was and ignore the things I wasn't. I imagined he would be able to cook, really well, and when I came home from school I could smell curry rice, my favourite, cooking in the kitchen. He'd be cooking and I'd come up behind him and hug his waist. He'd smile and kiss me, and we'd have dinner. I imagine he'd be about my height, but a little bigger, a little more built, with dark hair and bright eyes, with a sweet smile and a great personality.  
  
I couldn't help but get excited all over again. Things would be wonderful if I could find someone like that.  
  
If that ever happened, and believe me I would do anything to make it happen, there would be a few problems. I couldn't have Otogi or Honda or even (ugh) Anzu over to the house anymore, unless I had told them about my sexuality, but in that case they wouldn't even be speaking to me. So they couldn't come over unless he was working or something. Another thing was that I'd constantly have to answer the phone, and the door, and we couldn't go out for dinner or anything in fear of being seen...  
  
Wait a minute...even if my friends rejected me for my sexuality, and I had my lover, he would be all the company I would ever need in my life!  
  
...  
  
Yeah, I'm not too smart at times...  
  
You see, I just didn't feel right about starting my life, at a young age like this, without really being honest about who I was inside. Because I'd feel that if I hid it inside all my life, I'd be living a sheer lie.  
  
But I feared rejection. I feared loneliness. I had heard that some guys had come out and they lost friends, and they were disowned by their families, and they went on living life rather sadly. Shit, look at Yugi! He's only 16 and that kid's shunned by the entire population that knows of his existence.  
  
See, I was scared of being shunned like that. I couldn't face the rejection that came with it all. I could be anything else, I could be a snob, lazy, pessimistic, piggish, and rude, and although they'd complain about it sometimes, I'd be fine that way, because in their eyes at least I wasn't gay.  
  
I thought back to what happened in the bathroom with Cookie. I couldn't help thinking about something. Suppose I had gone all the way with her, Heaven forbid, on the grubby tiles of that gross bathroom, or perhaps even up against one of the bathroom stalls, would that make them accept me? It was like a test, a trial to see if I was heterosexual or not, and once they found out that I was, I'd be welcomed into their club forever.  
  
Giant sigh  
  
True, there wasn't too much I could do at this point. I could go on, being gay in secret, not tell anyone and live a lie, get hooked up with slutty girls who wanted to give me sexual favors, and be accepted. Or I could come out, and be shunned for the rest of my life, hated, cursed, kicked around like an unwanted puppy, and reduced to a dark corner, crying, alone, lonely, just wanting to be accepted.  
  
Life truly was awful at times. Things like this happened, and I wished they didn't. I'd figure out problems like these, and I wish they'd go away, and they wouldn't.  
  
But I suppose that's life, isn't it?  
  
...  
  
I could smell rain.  
  
I stopped walking.  
  
This was the first time, since I left the bar, that I really stopped to see where the hell I was going. I found myself standing and looking rather stupid, like a lost duck, in the middle of the sidewalk along my favourite street, you know, the one with the little shops and stuff.  
  
I didn't know what time it was, but the little shops were, for the most part, open. I could see into the windows of most of them, and they were fairly busy, which was comforting. It was always good to see people drinking coffee in the café on the deck, or people going off to get pierced in some obscene place in the tattoo parlor, or people going into the little bookstores, which didn't get as much business. It was comforting in a way, to know that at least they could survive in this world, when kids like me, with mind-tearing situations, didn't have much chance.  
  
It was warm, and the sun had just gone down. Their was a few grey clouds coming in, and that was how I could smell the oncoming rain. The colours of the sky were melting away like splashes of watercolours dotted with-  
  
...Wait...watercolours...paints...paintings...art galleries...  
  
I gasped.  
  
"Merciful Death"!  
  
Before I could control my actions, I set off on a run in the direction of the art store, the silent promise I made to myself suddenly coming back fresh to my mind. I remembered promising that after the date, if I wasn't going home with Cookie, and indeed I wasn't, I would stop and see the painting on my way home.  
  
Suddenly I was feeling so much better, and I was running the fastest I could through the street, running past the shops, and the people having dinner on the decks, who watched me as I passed. Things were gone from my mind as I thought of nothing else but the perfect ending of a horrible evening.  
  
I stopped in front of the art gallery. I stopped to catch my breath. The store was closed.  
  
Suddenly the world was a ruin once again.  
  
My excited, encouraged shoulders that had lifted in anticipation when the realization hit me had slumped again and I bowed my head and let out a deep, exhausted sigh. This night was too much, I couldn't take too much more of what was going on.  
  
Why, or everything that went wrong tonight, why couldn't the art gallery be open just an extra hour after ten?  
  
I felt like having a tantrum, right there in the middle of the street, where people were walking and inside the shops. I wanted to stamp my foot like a child and pull my hair out and scream at the top of my lungs. What was worse was that I was overcome with frustrated, pent-up rage that I just wanted to take off my shoe, hurl it at the window, go in there and steal the fucking painting!  
  
Now that I think about it, it would be easy. For sure there'd be an alarm, and the police would be coming soon enough, but I lived close enough that they wouldn't find me. It would be perfect, despite the weird looks I'd get from people who saw me running down the street holding a painting over my head.  
  
I smirked. The idea cheered me up a little bit.  
  
I wonder if the gallery would be open tomorrow?  
  
I tucked my hands into the pockets of my jeans and smiled up at the art gallery, not really sure why I wasn't going home. I just wanted to stand there for a moment, study the sign above the door and think about my beautiful painting sitting in the warm room on the wall, standing out above the others. It pained me that I couldn't go in and see it, but I knew there were others chances, and because of what happened tonight I knew Otogi would try to avoid me for the rest of the weekend and let me, "cool down".  
  
That was actually just as well. I didn't really want to see him or talk to him for the rest of the weekend anyway. I was still pissed at him.  
  
Thank gods there was still Honda.  
  
Oh! That's right, I was going to call him when I got home.  
  
Yeah, I knew I had to get back. Getting plastered was the last thing on my list for the night, and I knew that with Honda, if he wasn't banging some girl he'd just met, he'd be up for it in a second.  
  
I started to walk back home. I didn't want to pull away from the art gallery, as it seemed to have some sort of interesting mechanism to stop me from pulling away. Like I was drawn to it clearly by habit, or something. It had a total hold on me.  
  
I thought about the painting. MD. I hadn't seen it in such a long time, but I could see it so visibly in my mind. I remembered everything about it. Every stroke of the paint, every little unattended detail, every object, everything, really, I could see it like it was a photograph taken, and glued in front of my eyes.  
  
There was just something so brilliant about it, something I loved so much, something I wanted just for me for all eternity, and although I couldn't pinpoint what it was exactly, I knew it was entirely a good and addictive thing.  
  
Hey, it was better than a drug.  
  
I bet the art gallery would be open tomorrow morning. I'd get up early, that is, if I wasn't going to get really roaring drunk tonight, which the odds were against me. I'd get up early and walk over, hopefully without having to nurse a hangover, and stand there and stare at the beautiful painting for just as long as I liked. Maybe I'd stay there all day and just study it.  
  
That would be fun. I'd quite enjoy that. And when I got hungry I would just go to one of the little delis, get a sandwich, and come back and stare at it some more.  
  
The street was seemingly getting darker. I knew that it was getting darker out now and that I was pulling out of that street with my favourite little shops in it. This meant that I was getting into the district side. That was good. I'd be home soon.  
  
Come to think of it, I was a little tired. After tonight ordeal, I felt a little too down in the dumps to go back out again. My stomach was still bothering me just a little bit, but I think it was because I didn't have anything in my stomach, because of the throwing up I did. Normally with me I eat so much that my stomach's never really empty. Well it was now and let me tell you, it's not pleasant.  
  
I hoped there was something at home. Even some bread and lunch meat. A simple sandwich would do, and then if I went out again maybe I'd snack on some chicken wings or something.  
  
My apartment complex came into view. I was kinda relieved. I wanted to go inside and sit down for a little while before going back out again. And if I were lucky, the apartment wouldn't seem so dull and grey when I went inside.  
  
I thought again about calling Honda. For sure he'd want to go out and have a few beers and talk about what happened on the day tonight. Despite the fact that I didn't want to have to go through it again, I knew I'd have to if we went out. I had to at least tell him about it.  
  
Then if I did tell him about it he'd probably ask why I didn't go with the flow. I guess I'd just tell him that the girl was a slut and I didn't want to get an STD or anything from sleeping with her. I know Honda would never really believe that, seeing how he sleeps with a new girl every second night, or something of the nature.  
  
Shit...now that I think about that, it's really dangerous. Maybe I should bring that to Honda's attention. But I'm sure he already knows, he doesn't want some moron like me going and telling him how to live his wealthy, yahoozer life.  
  
I walked up the steps towards the door to my apartment, and I searched frantically in my jean pockets for a key. I opened the door without ease, and came inside, closing the door behind me.  
  
I was met with something rather unexpected.  
  
The front room of my apartment, but also the living room, where the twenty- year-old sofa and chair and television were sitting, was empty.  
  
But there was something very startling in the air.  
  
Almost like a presence. It was almost like someone had been here, not even like, ten minutes ago. The apartment didn't seem so grey as it seemed more like...preoccupied. There was a faint, delicious aroma drifting in the air that I recognized to be cologne. But it wasn't me. I never wore cologne.  
  
Oh Gods, had I been robbed or something?  
  
I dropped my key on the nearest surface and I very cautiously went looking from room to room, and to the back door, checking every window, seeing if anything valuable was missing, despite the fact that there wasn't anything valuable in my apartment except the television and maybe the digital clock.  
  
I went from room to room, but it was the same as I had left it. It was grey and somewhat cold and boring and kinda messy. But there was nothing out of place, there was nothing missing. Everything was just...fine.  
  
I lingered in the doorway to my bedroom for a moment, wondering what in the hell I was sensing, if I hadn't been robbed or anything?  
  
Hmm...weird.  
  
I tried to shake it away. I lingered back into the living room and turned on a lamp. I would have turned on the television but I wasn't going to watch it for too long. The next thing I did was go into the kitchen and search for food. I turned on the light over the stove and opened the fridge.  
  
Hmm...not too many appetizing things in here, let me tell you.  
  
I didn't even take anything out of the fridge. I yawned and stretched my arms and closed the door to the fridge, leaning against it for a moment.  
  
I thought back to, "the incident", and I remembered feeling something in the back of my mind every minute that I was with Cookie. It was like a flame that grew in my mind from jealousy of me being with a girl, or something of the matter. It had puzzled me and at first I thought it had been the effects of the alcohol in my system.  
  
But I was feeling a similar force now.  
  
And I threw up everything I drank.  
  
I shook my head. This night was just getting to be too weird. Maybe it would be best if I didn't go out after all. I should just stay at home and go to bed, and not get up until Monday morning, when I'd have to go back to school. Not like that was much consolation. I didn't even want to think about school right now.  
  
I wondered if Honda would be busy tonight. I went into the living room and picked up the phone that sat by the door. I wasn't sure where he'd be, so I decided to call him on his cell. I leaned against the wall with the phone to my ear, the force still lingered in the back of my mind, but I did my very best to try and push it away.  
  
It rang once. And twice.  
  
"Hello?" Honda finally picked up.  
  
I smiled. I was glad I was able to catch him. "Yo Honda, you busy?"  
  
I heard him sniff over the phone. I frowned. Uh oh. What if he was shooting up? He had quite the reputation to do so. But then again I had a feeling he wouldn't be calling if he was.  
  
He cleared his throat. "Not anymore." He answered, and then it sounded like he was stretching. "What's up?"  
  
"Wanna go for a drink?" I proposed, despite the fact that I was kind of out of it. I kinda wanted Honda to say that he was busy or something so I could stay at home and go to bed. I don't know why I bothered to call him in the first place, really.  
  
There was a pause on the other end of the phone. "Aren't you supposed to be on that stupid double date with Otogi and Mango and that other chick?"  
  
I rolled my eyes. I just got the stupid date out of my head too. "Yeah, yeah. Don't remind me. I'll tell you about it."  
  
I could hear Honda laugh over the other end of the phone. Yeah, laugh all ya want you cheap bastard. It could have been him on that date instead of me, and then he would have had a great time with Cookie. I rolled my eyes and leaned against the wall. "So you want to go for a drink, eh? Well why don't we meet at Johnny's in a few?"  
  
"Okay," I said. "Sounds good. I'll see you in a few."  
  
"Yup." He mumbled. "Bye."  
  
I hung up the phone, slowly, and there was that sheer passing moment where I was caught between thinking there was something wrong, and knowing that everything was going to be okay. It was a peculiar feeling.  
  
I stood at the phone, and something nagged at my mind. Something drifted in the air. It stood out, like it did when I first came into the apartment. I was suddenly blinking more than I could manage. I felt my jaw tremble just slightly.  
  
There was someone else in the room with me.  
  
I could feel it.  
  
"That's quite rude..."  
  
I jumped upon hearing the voice. Oh gods, the voice. That voice that I knew so well, that had plagued my mind and soul since the day I had first heard it. I could recognize it a million miles away. That rich, sexy, mesmerizing voice that haunted my dreams.  
  
I was afraid to turn around, for it seemed the voice had come from just behind me, like it was waiting behind my ear. I could almost feel the shivery breath of the person in which it came.  
  
Summoning every ounce of strength that my body possessed, I swallowed tightly, trying to get down that awful lump in my throat, and turned around very, very slowly, trying to pace myself for what I was about to see.  
  
My dreams...my nightmares...everything in my mind that I both dreaded and dreamed for...it had all come true.  
  
He was sitting on my sofa, right in front of me, his body laid down perfectly over the cushions, his face an expressionless tone, his cobalt eyes upon me. He was there, the beautiful boy from the art gallery. Nothing had changed about him. He was the same. He was so beautiful...he was sitting on my couch, in my apartment...  
  
"Making plans, when you have company..." he said in a sleek tone, while shifting his crossed legs.  
  
My heart seemed to stop. My brain wouldn't respond to my commands. I was staring at him uncontrollably, like I had done when we first met in the art gallery those few weeks ago.  
  
The first thing I wondered was how he got into my apartment. I had closed the door and windows, hadn't I? I hadn't heard him knock, and I sure as hell didn't let anyone into the apartment at any given time. This was greatly confusing me. My mind wouldn't even acknowledge the fact that he was in my apartment. MY apartment. Why? I don't know...  
  
I stared into those cerulean eyes, those handsome, deep, hypnotic eyes, that glowed like a single flame on a candle in a long forgotten darkness, aching to break through the black which surrounded it. They glared into my soul, into my very being. I thought I was going to faint, I was shaking, I was in disbelief. He was here. He was here, right in front of me. I couldn't breathe.  
  
To my amazement I found that my lips had started to move. Although I wasn't too sure how they did so; the rest of my body seemed completely frozen. "It's you..." I whispered so meekly that I was afraid he would be offended, or scoff at me. I saw his expression darken. I knew already he was getting annoyed.  
  
I straightened up, although it took a little bit of energy. I cleared my throat and straightened out my jacket. "How'd you find me?"  
  
His expression softened. I noticed the way his white fingers gently tap- danced on his kneecap, while the other draped itself along the back of the sofa. He looked comfortable, and I couldn't help but look over him, drinking in his appearance. It was then I first noticed his outfit. It was different from the first night I saw him. He was wearing the same long black trench coat that draped over his shapely legs and the cushions of the sofa, and those leather pants. But he wore a frilly shirt under the jacket, which gave him a 17th century English gentleman look. His hair was combed and perfect, chocolate bangs falling delicately down into his eyes. His perfectly round chin darkened by the light contrast in the room, his cheekbones and eyes were slightly hidden by shadow. He was neither smiling nor frowning, but watching me with what looked to be sheer attention.  
  
"I followed you." He said, blinking once, very slowly, maybe to show off how lovely his eyelashes looked. And believe me, they did look lovely.  
  
I swallowed, thinking about the gravity of his words. He...followed me? "From where?" I voiced my thoughts.  
  
He blinked again. Damn those eyelashes! "The bar." He said.  
  
The bar? Something clicked. If he had followed me from the bar...had he gotten into my apartment before I did? Was that why the room had felt so different when I came inside? And why would he have followed me anyway? This didn't make sense. I thought maybe he had been lying.  
  
I lifted a finger and pointed at him. "Were you..." I faded out for a moment. "Were you there?"  
  
A tiny smile etched at his lips and he nodded. "And you saw..."  
  
He nodded again.  
  
I hissed and drew a hand through my shaggy blonde hair, looking away from him. Ooh man, he had been there the entire time? The hottest guy I had ever seen and the phantom of my dreams...he had seen that embarrassing scene? He must have been in one of the bathroom stalls when it happened, and he left when I left. Shit, to think this beautiful guy had seen that display. It made me feel a little bit sick to my stomach. "Oh man..."  
  
I saw the little grin widen just a little more out of the corner of my eye, but I still refused to look at him. He very gracefully uncrossed his legs, his upper body not changing, his eyes still locked on me. "Might I say my favourite part was when she threw the beer in your face."  
  
Suddenly I felt a little pissed. "Shut up!" I told him, pointing at him and staring him straight in the eye. "That date was a lost cause from the beginning."  
  
I heard him chuckle low in his throat. It was a beautiful, seductive sound that I wanted to hear more often. "And why is that?" he mused, his head turned just slightly to the side.  
  
I grew uneasy under that gaze. It was as if he was interrogating me, which he kinda was, but it was scary when he did it. He made me feel like an idiot, blabbering on like a schoolgirl who was meeting her all-time crush all of a sudden. I sure as hell hoped I wasn't going pink in the cheeks. "I..." I swallowed. "I didn't know her...and I didn't want to go on that date in the first place."  
  
That, at the moment, was my best argument. But I would be damned if this stunning creature would buy it.  
  
To my surprise he continued to stare at me with that same soft smile. "Yes, I had the slight feeling that you wouldn't get far."  
  
I blinked, unsure what to say or do. Was that supposed to be a compliment or an insult? Damnit! It's so hard to tell with this guy.  
  
I suddenly realized the moonlight that came in down from the window. It patterned across his face gracefully, the light made his eyes glitter, and every moment of his head was like some sort of poetic dance in the snow under the moonlight...  
  
Whoa! Got too poetic there all of a sudden...  
  
The whole room had gone silent. So I tried to break it with a rather stupid question. "Why did you follow me?"  
  
His shrugged his shoulders just very slightly. It was almost an innocent gesture. But I knew that anything he did couldn't possibly be innocent. His entire aura was mysterious.  
  
"I wished to speak to you, considering my rude behavior back when we last met." He claimed, his voice so thick and rich against the hair.  
  
Knowing that he wanted to talk to me, and that he was apologizing in a way for how he had behaved the first time we met...it made me blush a little. I couldn't help it. And the first time we met...I was sure he wouldn't even remember it. Hell I didn't think I would ever see him again, and here he was sitting on my sofa in my living room in my apartment apologizing to me, wanting to talk to me.  
  
...  
  
I must have drunken more than I thought.  
  
"Oh." I said, unsure of what else to say. I kind of looked around the room, just to avert his gaze. "Well, can ya make it quick? I gotta meet Honda in a few."  
  
Hey, screw Honda! I wasn't going anywhere with my dream guy sitting in my apartment and wanting to talk to me. I would sit there for the rest of my life if only he stayed with me. It was one of those moments where I neither wanted him to stay or go, for fear I would never see him again.  
  
That smirking smile remained. "Of course." He cooed through the darkness.  
  
I gasped, as suddenly he was standing up off of the sofa, towering at his alarming height. I found myself suddenly looking up at him, not remembering seeing him stand from the sofa. Had he even stood from the sofa? Maybe he did it so fast that I didn't even notice. Whatever the reason, it was a very strange thing...  
  
He took a step towards me. Rather alarmed, I took a step back.  
  
"W-what do you want to talk about?" I asked, my eyes never leaving his. I feared what he would do if I looked away from him for even a moment.  
  
Another step forward. Another step back.  
  
"You choose." He said, taking two steps forward, and to my horror I found that I was standing against the wall, my back cooled by the surface, but my heart thudding so loudly that I could hear it even over his words. I thought maybe he would have stopped where he was, just in front of me. But he didn't. He continued forward.  
  
I swallowed very tightly, and suddenly I found myself trying to think of something for us to talk about, although I had the feeling that we wouldn't be doing any talking tonight. "Uh...well..." suddenly I gasped, for he was standing right in front of me, staring down at me with that gentle smirking smile and those glaring eyes. But suddenly I felt fingers on my thigh, and my mind went nuts. I wanted to look down and see if I was actually feeling what I thought I was feeling. I wanted to scream at him and push him away for even putting a finger on me. I wanted to moan and encourage him to touch me just a little further.  
  
So far in my gay life, no one this beautiful had ever touched me like his.  
  
The agonizingly sexy chuckle came low from his throat again, and he looked down at my chest with a hungry gaze, his fingers very slowly grazing up my side. I shivered. "I'm...not too great at " I choked out, trying to resist the feel of his fingers.  
  
As one hand glided up my side, I felt the other glide up my arm, and suddenly I was wide-eyed and ready to accuse him of molestation. But at the moment I couldn't find my voice. He was touching me...he was touching me...there wasn't anything else my mind could calculate at the moment other than his hands touching me.  
  
I would have given anything to see his naked skin. Or even if it was me who was naked. I'd like him to be touching me while I was naked and he was fully clothed, glaring down at me hungrily, and I knew what he would want, and I would give it to him. I wished that those daring wandering fingers were unbuttoning my pants and sliding down the zipper, as to make their way into my nether crevices and search for what they were looking for. I could imagine gasping against him, grabbing his arms for support, wanting more. Urging more...  
  
"I noticed..." he whispered against my ear, and suddenly I realized how close to me he was. His head was at my side, one hand curling around my waist to hold me in a lock of some sort, pulling me closer, and the other coming up and grazing over my shoulder.  
  
I shuddered. His fingers were so cold as they soothed along my skin. It was like they were made of ice. Gods how could anyone be this cold? It was like he had been walking in the rain for hours and now he was chilled even down to his bones. He almost felt dead; he was so cold.  
  
I tried to draw myself away from the feeling of his skin on mine, and how he held me close as if to embrace me. I tried to ignore the fact that this was probably all of my fantasies pulled together to create the ultimate dream. He was holding me so closely, I wanted to close my eyes and lean into his embrace and allow myself to melt into him.  
  
"Why did you..." I found myself losing my voice. I was lost in the moment.  
  
"Hmm?" he murmured against me, his lips trailing just lightly over my jawbone, making me start to shake again. I felt his lips drifting down to my neck. I didn't know what to do anymore. I was completely at his mercy.  
  
"Your...your skin is so cold..." I could barely speak. I could feel his lips caressing my neck. I started to pant just a little bit, and I could see my breath come out in clouds.  
  
I felt his eyelashes against my cheek. His eyes were closed. I could feel him smelling my skin. For what reason? I'm not sure. But then again came the beautiful sound of his low chuckle.  
  
"Are you cold, puppy?"  
  
Puppy...  
  
Where had I heard that from? Oh Gods, that was what Cookie had called me when we were in the bathroom earlier that evening. She said that I had blushed like...a little puppy.  
  
Suddenly everything made sense to me. The force I felt come into the bar, that had been him. The force I felt outside the bathroom when the incident went on, that had been him. What I felt when I first came into my apartment...that was him. How could he have such an intense aura?  
  
This guy...he wasn't...there was something about him that just wasn't...he couldn't possibly be...human...  
  
"I'm..." I gasped when I felt something sharp prick at the skin on my neck. I wanted to panic but I was too relaxed in his grip. This sharp object dragged against my skin. I bit down hard into my lip at the pain it caused. I was clenching my eyes closed, and I thought tears would come. But I wouldn't cry in front of him. "I'm...not a dog-"  
  
Suddenly I screamed. I could feel a chunk of my flesh suddenly being ripped from my neck. The pain was excruciating. I thought I was going to pass out. I could feel the warmth of my blood flowing down my neck. The sickening sounds of my skin made me want to be sick.  
  
I went limp in him arms. I could no longer stand on my feet. The pain...it hurt so fucking much...I wanted it to be over...  
  
My eyes were suddenly very heavy, and that was when I thought that I was dying, and any minute now I would die of the pain I felt, in the arms of this beautiful man. I wanted to cry, I wanted to scream. I felt so tired...all of a sudden I just wanted to sleep.  
  
I felt something wet clean up the spill droplets of my blood from the wound. I was barely conscious and couldn't care what the hell it was. My eyes were closed when I felt myself lifted from the ground. I was no longing leaning on him, but it felt like I was flying suddenly through the air, weird as it was.  
  
I thought that this in truth was death. I was dying...  
  
I was laid on a soft surface. My eyes were still closed, and I couldn't even open them to see where I was. I felt fingers touch at my torn neck, I felt the strong, horrible pain and the anguish that accompanied it all.  
  
Cold fingertips were at my lips. All my pain seemed to be soothed just lightly.  
  
He was still here with me. I knew this coldness.  
  
"Until another time, puppy." Came his voice through the waves of darkness that lead me to an endless dreamland. I couldn't even think about anything anymore...I was overcome with a wanting to fall asleep...  
  
I felt sheets straighten underneath me, and my naked skin against cool crisp sheets. At once I knew I was in my bed, and I thought perhaps that it had been all a dream. Everything. The date, the incident, the walk home, and then the confrontation. All of it hadn't happened, it was all a dream.  
  
I sighed and struggled to open my eyes. The pain was soothed just a little. I couldn't tell how long I had closed my eyes, but it seemed like hours ago I had gotten home. It seemed like the wound in my neck was hours old. Very weakly I reached to touch my neck, for I couldn't feel the pain much anymore.  
  
I felt an icepack pushed against the wound.  
  
I sighed. Someone had given me that wound, and was now taking care of me.  
  
And the beautiful boy, the one from the art gallery...he was gone.  
  
Well there you go, Seto's made his second appearance. I hope you liked it. I'm sorry there wasn't much else than a few huggies and lip caressing, but you have to admit its cute. . I'm proud to say that from now on Seto is in almost every chapter! I hope you liked this one! Please R&R! 


	7. Chapter Six

I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh

A/N: Augh! I finally have Internet! I moved over the last weekend of July so I've been out of Internet for DAYS. But now that I have Internet back, and that I'm finished summer school, I have lots of time to write all August. And since none of my stories are really doing too well except for Chihiro, expect a lot more chapters coming up!

Chapter Six

The following Monday morning I found myself walking to school in the mid-June rain, and I was feeling just about as miserable as I had Friday night. Following the date and the interesting "visitation" from the dark angel, I had this wound in my neck and ended up sleeping almost all weekend, resulting in me losing my job. I felt awful when I was awake so I slept more and more until I was wide-awake in the evenings. It was untimely and I hated it.

The wound on my neck had gone a lovely shade of blue, and was even purple at some of the edges where the broken skin had ripped. I had to refrain from touching it, not that I wanted to touch it. I was lucky it wasn't infected. At least, I thought it wasn't infected. But I couldn't afford to go to the doctor if it was. I didn't even have any band-aids to cover it up, so here I was walking around looking gloomy with a big rip in the side of my neck.

As I was walking I noticed people staring at me. I tried to raise my shoulders just a little bit so they wouldn't see or notice, but it didn't really work. There were whispers and looks cast off in my direction, but no one actually approached me to ask if I was okay or if I needed to see a doctor. Humph. I don't need them.

My Dark Angel, as I had nicknamed him, on account of his mysterious aura and how he always appeared in the evening, did not return after brutally wounding me. I had hoped that on Saturday night, after my landlady had come to give me a "get-well" cake, he would return to see how I was, and maybe apologize for literally tearing out my throat. I thought about how nice it would be, if he came to my room late at night when I was in bed, feeling awful, and he took off all his clothes and climbed on top of me and made some sort of attempt to "make me feel better" and "apologize" for what he had done.

I thought about how lovely and nice that would be, and then he would visit me again the next night, and then the next, until it became a nice regular thing. I could get used to that, if I wanted.

But he didn't come back afterwards, and I hadn't seen him the entire evening. I wanted to be angry with him for wounding me and then leaving me alone to feel sick and awful, but I found that no matter what I did I couldn't stay mad at him. A part of me wanted to never see him again, in fear that he would do something else to hurt me. But the largest part of me wanted nothing more than for him to come back to me. It could happen. Hell I thought I'd never see him again after the first time I saw him, but then he came back to talk to me. A little smidgen of hope rose in me when I heard him say such. I thought maybe he was taking a bit of an interest in me.

Although what kind of interest would he have in me if he wanted to tear open my neck?

I was actually rather amazed that I didn't bleed to death. However after that chunk of flesh was pulled from my neck I was suddenly in my bed and not wearing a shirt, and someone had indeed pushed an ice pack against the wound, and the pressure made the bleeding stop soon after that. Soon all it was was a loose piece of very cold broken skin, and I kept it there for the rest of the weekend. When my landlady finally came by to visit, like she did sometimes on Sundays, she was rather shocked to see me lying in bed looking white with sickness, with a wound in my throat with a plastic bag full of cold water.

My landlady took care of me the rest of the day. I was very thankful. She told me that it didn't look infected, and judging by a 55-year-old woman's experience with several children in the past, I trusted her judgment. She gave me a bandage to try and heal up the wound and told me that there may be a scar there. I didn't care, really. It'd be a proud trademark I'd take with me to remind me of the beautiful stranger who once had the nerve and power to put a large hole in my neck.

She told me it wouldn't be wise to go to school, since I looked awful and I still had a bit of a fever. My hands were also clammy and I felt sick to my stomach. But I had already lost my job over the weekend and I truly couldn't afford to lower my grades at school anymore than they were.

When I woke up this morning I had a shower. It helped to wash away some of the caked blood at my wound, but unfortunately the bandage was so wet and bloody that the adhesive wouldn't stick anymore. It fell off and I couldn't find any other band-aids, and I was already very late for school so I couldn't ask my landlady for another one.

So I started walking to school, and I got all the weird looks from the people on the street. I tried to ignore them until I came to a full run all the way to school. At my luck I was late for my first class, but luckily my teacher was so glad that the summer holidays were coming that he didn't care and waved me off like he had a hangover.

I fell asleep in most of my morning classes. I needed it to gain some of my strength and to ease myself from the harsh pain that still came from the world. Finally at fourth period before lunch my teacher told me to go to the nurse's room and lay down. Which I did, and I thanked him for it. I thought maybe it would be a good idea if the nurse looked at my neck, but she had already gone out for lunch. That was fine, I just needed to rest. I slept in there for about an hour and a half, and then I found some bandages in one of the cupboards and shoved them into my pocket. I grabbed my backpack and left the nurse's room.

I walked down to the lunchroom, which was full of chattering people, as usual. I was probably a few minutes late from all the sleeping I had done in the nurse's room. I sat down in my usual spot and took out some of the leftover cake my landlady had made for me. This was my lunch.

When I was halfway through my piece of cake, Otogi came and sat down across from me. He was wearing his usual school attire, but he had bags under his eyes, and those electric green eyes were a little bloodshot. I figured he was probably hung-over. I was rather surprised to see him sitting with me. I figured after what happened on Friday night he'd just avoid me like hell.

"Hey." Otogi said, trying to grace a smile but his face looked a little too pained to accomplish such a task. "Look, I wanted to apologize about Friday night." He said sincerely, and he actually was trying to smile now. "That was uncalled for." He admitted.

I smiled back at him. That was all I really wanted to hear from him. An apology. Although I probably deserved more from him after what I had gone through from that stupid double date. "All's forgiven." I said, waving a hand as if to call it off. "I went out with Honda later and he had fun laughing at me."

I stopped and blinked. I hadn't gone out with Honda at all that Friday night. It was interesting because in the morning I found that there were two messages on my answering machine. The first was Honda, saying that he picked up a chick at one of his local porno stops, and that he wouldn't be able to make it for drinks. It was just as I was hung up in bed with the wound in my throat.

The second message was my manager, telling me I was fired.

Otogi snorted and reached for a cigarette. He stuck it in his lips and searched for his lighter. "Sounds like something he'd do."

I smirked. Yeah, it did sound like something Honda would do, had I told him.

Otogi was smoking the lit cigarette when I saw his eyes widen in horror and he blew out smoke in my face. "Holy shit man, what happened?"

I gave him a weird look. "What?" I actually had no idea what he was talking about.

"What the hell do you think?" Otogi looked like he would give me a lecture about something, and it was then that I realized he was looking and talking about my neck. Damn, I'd forgotten to put on those bandages from the nurse's room.

"You've got a fucking open wound in your neck." Otogi grimaced, leaning on his elbow, looking away from me, and looking sick and taking another drag on his smoke.

Absent-mindedly I reached up to touch it. I grazed a bit of broken flesh with my finger and hissed inwardly. Fuck, that stung! "Oh yeah, that." I bit through my teeth. "Well-"

"Did you stick a stake in your skin?" Otogi asked, once again blowing smoke in my face, but he was looking at me with an expression that showed genuine interest and slight concern. I was rather touched.

I shook my head. "Nah..." I realized I would have to think of some excuse as to having this wound in my throat. I couldn't very well tell him that some handsome stranger came to me late at night and tore it open for no good reason.

"I was getting something from the porch and caught the skin on a broken bike handle." I turned down to my cake. That was the best excuse I could come up with. I saw it in a really gory monster movie once.

"Pretty." Was what Otogi said, and tapped the ashes off his cigarette onto the table without regard for the school's property. Then he pointed to my neck and blew out smoke through his nostrils. "You should probably have that looked at."

I shrugged. "Yeah, I'll go last period to see the nurse." She'd probably be back from lunch by then.

Otogi nodded. "Good."

We sat in silence for awhile. I already knew that Otogi wasn't going to mention the double date ever again, and for that I was very thankful. It was just as well, I didn't want to be reminded of that night, really of anything that happened that night. My weekend had been a complete bust because of that night.

The visitation had all in all been exciting, except for getting the wound in my throat. There was that sweet single moment where he took me into his arms and was actually caressing me tenderly along my hip and up my arm. That part made my eyelids heavy with excitement and certain desire, and all my body weight wanted to crash into his strong caressing arms, breathe in his scent, and hear that sexy chuckle in his throat. It'd be nice if he carried me to bed too, and maybe got in with me-

"Oh shit!"

My fantasy was interrupted by Otogi's swearing. I looked at him, actually thankful that he had pulled me out of my fantasies. It wouldn't be so great to be wandering about the school with a hard-on about this time.

I noticed Otogi trying to hide his face with the cigarette burning in between his fingers. I was about to ask him what was wrong, but then someone else approached the table.

"Jou, what did you do to your neck? It looks terrible! Are you okay?"

I'd recognize that whiny, worried voice anywhere. I looked over and sure enough there was Anzu, looking down at me with a worried expression. I noted her outfit, and decided that this must be her smuttiest one yet. Maybe she thought that since summer was coming she wouldn't get so much action so now she was getting rather desperate.

I opened my mouth to rely, but Otogi decided to reply for me. Apparently her statement hadn't pleased him in the least.

"For fuck sake's, Anzu." He said, looking up at Anzu with an angry scowl on his features, drawing Anzu's attention. "He's a man, he's able to take care of himself, Damnit." He blew out smoke at her. I noticed how it wove up to her scowling face and regarded this as a mini-lunchtime entertainment session.

Not that I liked seeing Otogi and Anzu fight all the time. Sometimes it was a lot of fun. It was seldom that Anzu ever won a fight because Otogi had such a smart mouth, but sometime I'd like to see Anzu win one of the fights.

Anzu stuck a hand on her side and leaned on the table, her white purse swung back and forth, and it was by that simple gesture that I knew how irritated she was.

"I wasn't asking you, asshole." She said in a waspish snap.

"You're talking to me now and I say leave Jou alone." Otogi argued back, scowling at her.

Anzu shook her head. "Baka." She said under her breath, and she turned back to me, the same worried look in her blue eyes. "So Jou are you going to get that treated?" she pointed with a tentative finger at my neck.

I nodded and reached up to cover the wound with my hand. I cupped my hand over it so I wouldn't actually touch it and scream out from the pain. I nodded. "Yeah, I'll go last period."

Immediately Anzu's bitch radar kicked in. Beep! Beep! Beep! And her eyes were wide, but this time in anger.

"But that's geography class and we have the final today!" she said, placing her palms on the table, her voice had adapted a rather different whiny tone.

"Precisely why he's going then." Otogi spoke up at last, having discarded his first smoke sometime when Anzu was talking to me, and pulling another one from his pack and lighting it. "Good going, buddy." He winked at me and grinned.

My skin felt tingly. I just hope I wasn't blushing.

An angry sigh came from Anzu, and I knew there was real heat brewing here. She turned again and crossed her arms at Otogi, scowling fiercely at him. "You know Otogi, I'm real sick of your attitude!" she began to lecture, and I saw Otogi rolling his eyes, and I grinned just slightly.

"Your bad influence is teaching Jou bad habits!" Anzu argued, and suddenly I wondered when and why she had gotten so protective and interested of my habits.

I could tell Otogi was too. But he was mad about it. "What the fuck are you, his mother?" Otogi started to snarl at her in his raised, furious voice. When you saw Otogi mad, you want to get out of the way. In fact he seemed so mad that he got up off his feet and towered over her, glaring down at her.

"Piss off bitch," he snarled. "Don't you have some guy waiting for your cheap cunt in the bathroom?" he took in a drag of his smoke and blew out the smoke directly in her face. I saw her struggling not to cough.

Sometimes I worried that Otogi would get so mad at Anzu that he'd rape her. I knew he had done it once in the past, but it wasn't necessarily the bad kind of rape, the kind of rape where the girl wants it but doesn't say yes right away. If he were to rape Anzu it would be to scar her for life, and scar her it would, because I knew Otogi and I knew that he could probably be ferocious in bed.

Suddenly I wanted to throw myself in between them. Anzu pissed me off a lot, but that wasn't any reason for her to get hurt. And if she kept any of this up, she would get hurt, soon.

They stood like that for a while, until Anzu was the first to back down. She hung her head and sighed, admitting her defeat. Otogi sat back down, silently, like he was still contemplating something.

"I'll see you in geography, Jou." Anzu said to me with a kind smile.

"Keep thinking that, bitch." Otogi muttered just loud enough for her to hear, and he started to flip open his lighter and then shut it closed again.

Anzu gave Otogi a last scowl. He was looking down and her look was lost. At that she just left the table, and I thought that was probably for the best. Another couple of minutes standing here and Otogi would probably have beaten her down to the floor. It was overwhelming how much he hated her.

I set aside the cake I was going to have for lunch. I had lost my appetite all of a sudden, and I rested my chin on my fist and stared at Otogi across the table from me, staring at the table, the cigarette dangling on the edge of his lips.

"Why are you so hard on her?" I asked, maybe it wasn't to be noble or to stick up for her, because that doesn't sound like something I would do. I think I was more interested in what he actually had against her.

Otogi began flicking the lighter in his hands open and slapping it shut. He wasn't looking at me, like he was ashamed to, or something. The cigarette between his lips dangled and every now and then he would suck on it and blow smoke out through his nose. "She needs to keep her nose out of other people's business, and you know it Jou."

I bowed my head and shrugged. "Yeah, I know.'

Actually I didn't know, but I suppose he had a bit of a point. Sure she was stepping out her own business when asking about my neck, but it didn't hurt me, did it? Maybe Otogi was annoyed about the fact that Anzu blew up at me after I said I wanted to skip my geography final. Like she cared more about my grades than my health, that she was, in a way, turning into my mother, if I still had one. That annoyed me. I suppose that's what had annoyed Otogi.

But sometimes I felt a little content knowing that Anzu was at least looking out for me a little. Asking if I was okay when I felt sick, and then worrying about my grades when no one else did. Not even my teachers worried about my grades anymore. I guess they had given up after awhile.

I suppose, no matter what age you are, it's always good to have a mother figure around who would surely try to kick you into shape, but also assure you that you are loved and cherished in the world where everything and everyone else seems to hate you.

My own mother was never really like that. She was unhappy from day one, but I think that's because of my dad. He did smack her around sometimes, and then he'd smack me. Then she'd burst into tears and he'd feel bad and promise he wouldn't do it again. But then his drinking started to get worse, and I think that was when my mother just decided that that was it.

She packed up her stuff, and hit the road, taking my little sister with her. I never understood why she didn't take me with her. I suppose she thought I should live with a male influence, but what kind of male influence did my old man offer? Drinking and beating your family up as a solution to problems?

That is why, to this day, I hate my mother.

I left school the second period into the afternoon. My teacher told me that I shouldn't be in school with a wound that serious. I guess it looked worse than when I last saw it. I assured my teacher that I would go to the nurse, but instead I just went home. I was feeling pretty bad anyway.

Another rainy day. Perfect. This was just what I needed. I pulled up my jacket so the rain wouldn't hit my neck. It had started to hurt a little less today but I didn't want to risk it. There were few people on the street and I was grateful. I didn't need another bunch of people staring at me and whispering about how I looked. Worse was that they wouldn't even ask if I was all right, like this morning.

Well, I was feeling rather positive all of a sudden, because I realized that I was coming close to the art gallery, and that I hadn't gone to see MD all weekend on account of this stupid thing in my neck. Finally I had the chance to do something I really wanted for a change.

I was walking a little quicker, and found myself standing outside the door to the art gallery in a few short moments. I was shaking with excitement, I was happy that soon I would finally be able to see it again. MD. The painting that haunted my very being, that seemed to whisper to me when I was asleep at night. It wanted me to see it, just like I wanted to see it.

I held out my shaking hand to the knob. I noticed just how similar this all seemed to the night when I had first seen the painting. It was raining and I was just seeking out shelter, not to mention that incredible force that held to the back of my mind, that appeared to be, in all coincidence, my dark angel.

An interesting thought came to me. The first night I had come to see MD he had been in the store...there had to be some sort of connection between them. Whenever I saw the painting, or thought of it, he appeared. Somehow they were linked.

I shook that idea out of my head. No, my evidence was all-wrong. He didn't appear when I thought about the painting, but maybe a few hours after. And he only appeared at the painting that one time, and he hadn't been back in the art gallery since.

My head was in a mess. It was the gauge in my neck. Screwing up my thoughts.

I pushed my way into the store. It had the same warmth from the fireplace and the same smell that suddenly seemed so very familiar to me. I heard voices inside the room, and the sound of the bell above my head as I pushed further wide the door. I wiped my shoes on the little rug and shook out my hair a little. With all that done, I set out to find my painting.

Today there was no man at the desk, but I knew that he must have been somewhere in the store with some customers, for I could hear a few voices talking about something.

I breathed in a deep breath, letting the warm air fill my chilled lungs. Suddenly I felt like I was home.

I wandered around to where I had last seen MD. It was off towards the back on one of the walls.

But this was a moment where I almost felt my heart break.

I came around the corner and saw my painting, sitting in its glory on the wall in the light. I smile in happiness. It was here, and I was standing there, about to go and see it. I felt happy all of a sudden, like the events of the past few days were all something fictional that I had read somewhere. I was completely content.

But there were people in front of it. The man from the desk in his spiffy suit and thin-rimmed glasses was standing beside it with his hands folded in front of him. He was talking to a well-dressed couple that looked as though they may have just been married, and had just bought a house, or something of the nature. My guess was that they wanted to buy a painting for the hell of it, to put up on their wall.

But I was shocked to think they may take MD.

I swung around, feeling embarrassed, and fearful of being found, for some reason. But apparently they hadn't heard or seen me, which relieved me a little bit. But I was unfortunate to drop in on their conversation.

"But of course this piece comes from the very early 19th century, you can tell by the elaborate details of the antique four-poster bed, and of course by the date in which was included on the underside of the frame by the artist. You may also note by the shape of the buildings just outside this French window that this indeed looks like Paris."

That was a very cultural, high and mighty voice, and I knew in an instant it was the man who worked here at the desk. I bit my lip in anticipation. Despite the fact that people were looking at it, and I was afraid I would get caught, I was learning some interesting things about MD.

There was a soft, "Hmm", followed by the woman's voice. "And you're not aware of the artist?"

"No ma'am, unfortunately there was no signature and the person who brought it to us gave no further information of the piece." The manager.

"How was it that it came to your premises?" That was a different voice. It was male, so I assumed it was the young man of the married couple who was now speaking.

"It was rather fateful," said the man in the suit. "We received a few works from some of our residential artists and found it in the cargo. There was no signature, no price, no real date, but only the title in itself."

I swallowed. 'Merciful Death'.

"My, that is fateful." Said the woman. "Well, it is quite lovely, and I'm sure it would be quite a topic for discussion when we had the in-laws over."

I felt my blood boil and my hands coil to fists. I was grinding my teeth. I couldn't let them have MD. Not my MD. They could buy it over my dead body!

"It truly is an original, by our records there were no copies made." Said the man in the suit. "So of course you realize why it is so...expensive."

"Of course," said the man from the married couple, although I noted, with hope in my heart, the bit of question in the tone of his voice. "Hmm, I don't know honey, we wouldn't really have anywhere in the house to put it. It just simply wouldn't go with anything we owned."

I think I was beaming with hope.

The woman sighed. And I think I sighed too. Except it was in content. "I suppose you're right, honey. Yeah, you're right. It wouldn't really go anywhere in the house. Unless of course we put it above the bed...but I certainly don't want to look at that when we're...well..."

I stifled a little snicker. They weren't going to buy it! I was happy again!

"Um, do you happen to have anything a little more...settle?" the man asked, clearing changing the subject before the conversation got out of hand.

"Of course. Right this way." The man in the suit was saying.

I waited for a moment, and then I heard the soft footfalls going down the hall away from MD. I let out a deep breath of relief, and spun around the corner to see MD at long last, after so many days of waiting.

There it was, in all its glory, just as beautiful as the first day I had seen it. Everything in the painting was so astonishing; the painting seemed to lift off the wall in front of me. Every stroke of the paint made my smile bigger, and drinking in the entire likeness made me forget completely about everything wrong that had happened in the past little while.

I sighed in deep relief. My beautiful painting, I would never let anyone in the world have you. You will be mine and mine alone someday soon, I can only promise you that.

I don't remember how long I stood there, but I did know that it had been quite a long time. The hours seemed to zip by as I stood and stared at MD, lost in its translation, lost in my desire for it, when the man with the suit tapped me on the shoulder, and while holding up his nose in what seemed to be utter disgust, he told me that the gallery was closing.

I said a silent goodbye to MD and took my leave slowly. Looking at my watch I was rather shocked to see that it was 10 o'clock, and that soon I would have to go home and do some studying. I had missed my geography final this afternoon and no doubt Anzu would be on my back making sure I did the make-up test.

It was dark now, and I was walking slowly, although every now and then I would try my best to go a little more quickly. But I was feeling too sick and had to pace myself just to make sure I'd get home alive.

I had a headache, and my neck started to hurt again. I dug around in my pockets for the bandages I took from the nurse's office and found them a little crumpled, but I would put them on when I got home. Then I would fall into bed with a nice tall glass of water, or maybe juice if there was any in the house, and I would go to sleep for another few days.

Yeah, I'm not going to school tomorrow. I feel too awful. And because all the teachers had seen what happened to my neck, they wouldn't make any complaints as to my absence.

I came home, and the air was still. The apartment was dark and cold and grey, like it always was. I sighed deeply and tossed my backpack onto the patched-up armchair and wandered into the kitchen. I didn't turn on the light, I just went to the fridge, and by now I was feeling really, really awful. So awful I wanted to knock myself out just so I'd be asleep and not feel so crappy.

I opened the fridge door and looked inside. To my extraordinary luck, I found a carton of orange juice on the top shelf, and grabbed it without delay, and finding a plastic cup I poured in the liquid, and didn't close off the carton before drinking. There was a little bit of pulp in it, but not a lot. Just how I like it. I could feel the sugar rushing through my system and giving me minimum strength, filling my stomach, and making me feel better.

I sighed, and put away the orange juice, and decided that I should probably take a shower, because I hadn't had one since Friday afternoon. Turning on the hallway and living room lights, and slugging myself to the bathroom, I pulled off my clothes and began to run the hot water.

I sighed in delight at the feel of the warm water hitting and running down my aching, cold body. I slumped back against the cool tiles, breathing in slowly, far too tired and weak to do any jacking off today. I could feel water seeping into the rough edges of my wound. I remembered I hadn't wanted to put on the bandages because they would get wet, and I wanted them to last for a while, seeing as I didn't have any more.

Something in my mind thought back to Yugi. I hadn't seen him at all that day. If I had I surely would have apologized for what Otogi had said on Friday, well, if he'd let me apologize, and not take off in a run down the hallway away from me. Maybe he had cried all weekend after what Otogi had said and hadn't bothered to come to school. I wondered how everything that had happened recently, what with being harassed for being gay and everything, had affected his grades at all. I heard he was a pretty straight-A student, but who knows what something like these events would do to a person.

The water went cold right away. I suspected that was because I hadn't paid my rent in a little while. It was due last week, and since I got fired I hadn't received my last paycheck yet. My landlady, Mrs. Okada, was a widow who was very kind to me, and she baked me cakes and didn't have any children. Sometimes I regarded her as a parental figure, because she was both there to smile at me and also give me advice on certain things. She had been very expendable with my late paychecks, and I hoped that she would do so again, because I had been going through some tough times, after all.

I shrugged my way out of the shower and found the huge white towel on the rack and wrapped it twice around my thin frame. I started to shake out my hair, and of course that was when I noticed it.

Or perhaps it was the pain of my neck that was driving me to believe that he was back.

I left the bathroom and recognized the smell in the air. That cologne. The same intoxicating aroma I recognized from a few nights away, last Friday night, after the visitation. I could recognize that smell anywhere.

When I stepped out of the bathroom I already knew that he was here. He was here in my apartment, again, just as silently and enigmatically as he had come before. It was interesting that this time I couldn't sense his presence, like I had the first couple of nights he had come. I suppose he was being rather careful about that, for whatever reason.

He was in my living room, like Friday night. But this time he wasn't sitting on the sofa. I came down the hallway, and already I caught the glimpse of his shadow on the wall, of the darkness it produced, of the mystifying aura he presented.

He was standing in the living room, close by to the window. And I noticed that the drapes were pulled closed over the window, and I hadn't done that.

My Dark Angel stood very still as I approached him. He seemed to be wary of his surroundings, those cobalt eyes traced my every move in detail, and the lips usually drawn to a stern line curled into a smirk.

He must have been glad to see me.

A/N: I know it's a weird place to leave off. But it leaves you wondering what's going to happen, as they are alone, and Jou's only clothed in a towel. Hehe.


	8. Chapter Seven

I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh

A/N: I have my writing zep back! And it's here with a passion! So expect much better quality writing in my newest chapters, and I really apologize about the last one, I read it over and was a little annoyed with myself.

For those of you who reviewed the last chapter and thought there was something going on between Otogi and Jou, aww you darlings and your imaginations. You will either be delighted or disappointed to hear that this chapter or the next shows you just how much Otogi does not like Jou in the end. Mind you there are several characters coming up who take quite the interest in our residential blonde.

Chapter Seven

I felt as though a pipe organ should be played in the background, for here I stood in my living room in the presence of the Dark Angel, and the world just seemed to go completely blank. The room around me seemed to be shadowed, and he stood and was the only focused obstacle in my view.

He stood, just as tall as a dark tower, and I was standing, staring at him, everything in my mind ceased to ask questions and everything was quiet. I began to shake, whether it was because I was in a towel and stepped out of a chilly shower, or because I was just so uneasy in his presence. Who knew such an answer?

I noted how his head tilted just to the side, his eyes shone with a sort of amused glare, his lips tugged to that same little smile, his chocolate bangs sweeping down into his eyes splendidly. I wanted to run forward and throw my arms around him. I wanted to turn and walk down the hall, just to see if he would follow me. I wanted to stand there looking stupid, holding up the towel, my only form of coverage, until he came forward and decided to rip it away from me and pin me against the wall, where I was no match against his immense strength, going cold from the touch of his icy skin, but warmed by the sweeping actions of his lips and tongue.

One of the things I noticed, just in spite of staring at him, was his outfit, something new, something I had never seen, and particularly something I would never suspect him to wear. A large black cloak, I was sure was made of some very expensive material, judging by the way it flowed down so gracefully. It completely hid his body from view, held together under his chin by a large blood-red brooch, and the ridiculously large collar pointed sharply away from him. To me he seemed just a phantom that moved with such guise and poise, never allowing himself to be seen, except in very precise circumstances. Right here, right now, I would give anything to touch him or feel that cloak against my naked skin, as if he were to hold me close to him, my head tucked securely beneath his chin, and because the cloak was ridiculously large there was no way to hug around him, so I would keep my hands flat against him, falling into his spell that he already seemed to have me under.

I closed my eyes, maybe just to stop looking at him. Take me in your arms, I pleaded to him mentally, and my lips seemed to part all their own as though a gasp would escape me. And my eyes opened so slowly, I stared at him as though I had been dying and he was the last and the most beautiful thing I would see before death, and my lips moved without accordance, and words escaped without my notification. "It's you again." And my eyes closed again, and I could feel the amusement on his mind.

I opened my eyes, he was watching me, the smirk was gone, and this time his eyes were clouded with a sort of confusion, his head cocked to the side, watching me with some sort of childish fascination. I noted the expressions that his eyebrows portrayed. "I told you I would be back." He said in his thick, beautiful voice, dripping with something like impatience. Oh, so that was it. I suppose he was a bit annoyed that I was gaping at him, or that I had forgotten his promise that he would return, "another time".

"Didn't you believe me?" his eyes were sharp, and it startled me a little bit.

I was silent. I stood and I stared at him, my fingers, soaked by the cold rain that dripped from my blonde locks, the results of my cold shower, began to numb and shake softly. This worried me, for they were the same fingers that held the towel around my body in place. But I guess he didn't really notice that I was in a towel, or I'm sure he would have made some sort of remark, unless of course he knew I had just come from the shower, something to which I was sure he knew.

And all of a sudden, I was asking weird, foolish questions. I was scowling despite myself, wondering why he was in my apartment, why he had made that wound in my neck; I was wondering all at once just what the hell his fucking problem was. I was a human being; I wasn't some sort of toy that he could simply play around with. Or perhaps I was, in his eyes. I would have to make it known to him that I didn't like his game.

I was suddenly furious. I was scowling, my lips turned in a pout, and I noticed the look he was giving me. No longer was he looking impatient with me, but rather confused and wondering what had suddenly gotten into me. But he chose to ignore it, with another question, regarding something I was wondering if he would ever mention again. "How's your neck?" he asked smoothly, and I could detect the tiniest hint of worry in his voice.

I stepped back and blinked at him, and absent-mindedly a hand flew up to my neck. I still hadn't put on the bandages, and cursed myself for it. I didn't want him to know that it hurt, or that I was worried about it, because I truly wasn't. Not really.

"It's fine," I said. "It's-"

I gasped and my eyes went wide, and all at once I thought my heart would stop beating. Suddenly he was in front of me, right up against me. I stumbled back and stood against the wall. He was in front of me once again. All at once he was a few feet away from me, questioning me with a weird look on his face, as though I was contradicting him, but in a blink of an eye he was suddenly standing before me, and further more I felt his icy fingers capture my chin in a lock.

I let out a startled breath, and I saw it cloud just barely. I was so cold, the towel didn't do justice and his fingers were so icy that it seemed to affect every inch of my skin. My lips began to shake and I found myself staring right into the blood-red brooch of his outfit, that of which held together his cape at the base of the neck, for it was at my exact eye height. I stared up at him; a head taller than me, and cobalt eyes stared down at me for moments, his lips never speaking, and the same fire burning brightly in his eyes. I swallowed tightly, wondering just what his actions were.

I was almost disappointed to feel him turn my chin to the side, gently, but firmly, as he held my chin between his fingers, and my eyes were turned away from him as I felt his eyes carefully examining the wound, as though he were judging his own handiwork. I blinked several times, my arms shaking, and I had an awful feeling that at any time I would drop the towel. I bit down into my lip, and closed my eyes as I felt his breath along my badly wounded neck, his bangs tickling my skin. I swallowed fearfully, afraid, as though he were about to do something more drastic than he had the last time. Maybe this time he would tear out my entire throat. Perhaps that had been his plan all along, and he only stopped last time for...whatever unknown reason.

I felt ice-cold fingertips brush the wound, and I let out a whimper, clenching my eyes closed. The cold felt good against it, but the wound itself still hurt from contact. I wanted to grab his arm and stop him, but my brain wouldn't respond to my thoughts and demands.

"It isn't infected," he said in a creamy way against my ear, and I shuddered at the words he spoke, my eyes didn't dare to open, my lips still shaking just lightly, his fingers still had my chin in a tight grip. I could feel his smile against my skin. "Good." He whispered gently, his lips grazed the shell of my ear, and I half-expected him to slip his tongue inside. I almost damn near prayed for it.

But he pulled back, never releasing my chin, and cerulean eyes blinked in slow motion behind the curtain of chocolate bangs in a seductive way, staring at me, and I saw the smile spread over his lips. The same, smirking smile. I blinked gently and looked at him in question, wondering just what he would do next.

His lips seemed to wander aimlessly away from mine. "I wouldn't want you to get sick on me." He told me delicately, and I felt his other hand glide down to the small of my back, and I drew in a sharp breath at the feeling of his cold skin against me. I could feel the soft, elegant texture of his cloak, and noticed that maybe my wish was coming true, and maybe he was sucking me into his darkness, ready to cover me in his soft cloak, ready to cradle me like a child, and run through the streets with me in his arms, a single blonde head, the only thing visible through the blackness of his cloak.

And suddenly an image came to me. Indeed he was wandering through the streets, that were dark and forbidding, where evil men roamed in search of victims. But he was so strong, and so mysterious, that they ran from his icy glare, shrieking like schoolgirls, never to look back. And he never smiled, never smirked at their pathetic display, never shook his head, regarding them for the pussies they were. And as he walked the silver light of the streetlights made his skin glow, and one look at the menacing things and the lights were shut off, bathing the street in darkness. He was walking slowly, like a human would walk slowly, but his style was mesmerizing, and he couldn't walk like an ordinary human. He walked more elegantly, more smoothly, the gigantic oversized cape flowing out from behind him with every move he made.

And there I was in his arms, naked as the day I was born, almost as pale as he was, my eyes were effortlessly shut, my arms and legs were limp, but his arms held me tightly and tenderly, his cloak clothing away my nakedness, his grip made sure that my head was turned into him, not away from him, and he would look down at me and smile as if I were a newborn child he was holding. He was smiling as he carried me away, through the darkness, and I was never seen again. The only thing that the world saw was the dark shadow of a tall boy in a massive cape, and a single blonde head of a boy who was swallowed by the cape, taken by the Dark Angel, never to be seen again.

And suddenly I was opening my eyes, and staring at him, realizing we were in my apartment, and feeling the towel slip away from my body, my arms going limp at the sides, and as I stared into his eyes they seemed to smile at me with such adoration that made me feel warm and comforted. I was naked and exposed to him, I was cold and trembling, and my mind let go of a question I had been longing to know for a very long time.

"What do you want from me?" and my mind made no regrets.

And the smirk from his lips was gone. The fingers that held my chin tightened. I blinked in confusion, I wondered his ploy, and his eyes softened, and my heart quickened, as I realized just what he was doing. He was leaning forward, and pulling me closer to him, and my eyes fluttered closed at the soft touch of his icy lips against mine.

My mind buzzed with questions. My heart seemed to know the answers. His kiss was soft and gentle and loving, and his movements were romantic, something I had never experienced before, something I had been longing for since the first day I set eyes on him. Oh Gods, what did he want from me? I was too excited to assume I knew the answer.

I kissed him back, almost uneasily at first, but I realized just how easy it would be, and how he was going to allow me to kiss him back. His fingers released my chin, and trailed lightly over my cheek and down to my shoulder, curling down over my shoulder and holding my back, pulling me further into him. I was enveloped in his cape, my naked form pressed against him. His lips were cold but I felt so warm. I was at such a mix of emotions, such a mix of feelings.

Never let me go, my mind begged him. Never stop kissing me. Oh Gods, don't let him stop kissing me!

He broke from me as I thought these words. My lips continued towards his, as though they by themselves were convinced they hadn't had enough. I licked my lips slowly, relishing in his unique, sweet taste that I loved and wanted more of. I stared at him questionably, my eyes pleading with him to continue. Again came from the little smile, the smile that was not a smirk, and the eyes that were no longer icy, but actually seemed warm, for the first time. He continued to hold me and kissed me again on the lips, quickly, not as slow as before, as if he just wanted a little sample of my taste, but I was quick to kiss him back, and he did it again, kissing me quickly, and I kissed him back just as quickly. And I was smiling due to his game, to which disappeared as he began to kiss my chin, and then his lips wandered down to my neck, the damaged side.

Suddenly I was worried of what he would do. My lips were shaking and I shut my eyes and tried to stop myself from screaming. He kissed my neck once; I could feel the cold press against me for moments, before pulling back, and kissing again, smoothly and softly. Now my mind was unsure what to think, my heart was beating so fast. I was scared and mesmerized at the same time.

"Oh gods, what are you?" I whispered meekly as he kissed my neck a last time. I felt him halt against my neck, but he didn't raise his head to look at him. Instead he leaned close to my ear and whispered to me.

"I think you know the answer to that." His breath was cold, and I swallowed tightly, and my fists bunched his cloak, as I somehow knew exactly what was coming next. The prick of something sharp, his teeth, I was sure of it, that had pulled away the flesh on our previous visit, now they lingered in the exact spot he had kissed me in. I bit my lip hard, and let out a tired scream as I felt them sink into my neck slowly.

One word came to mind. Vampire.

He held me tightly, and I squeezed his cloak in my hands, trying not to cry from the pain, although I suspect it was soon to be too much for my body to handle. But I was feeling the teeth being pulled away from the wound, and suddenly his lips were against my skin once again. I could actually feel my blood spill from the wounds his teeth had made, and his lips covered both punctures in my poor flesh. I moaned in sudden bliss at the feeling of the blood in my body leaving me, through those two holes, just below the wound he had made a few days before, and straight into his lips. He sucked gently at first, allowing me to feel the bliss of having blood withdrawn in such a way, and my eyes were half-lidded, my senses were beginning to fade. I could no longer feel the cold of his lips against my skin, only the blood he took from me. His tongue emerged and licked eagerly at the marks, catching whatever droplets had gotten away. I swallowed tightly, and I felt myself becoming weak, like a kitten, and my fingers released his cloak, and my arms dropped to my sides. I wanted to lean my head forward, but I was so lost of any strength at all. His hand rose and held the other side of my neck. He pushed me against his lips, and took every drop that my body would allow. I began to moan, for at that moment it felt both incredibly blissful, and just a little bit painful. I thought I was going to die, in the arms of this beautiful man that all at once I knew I adored.

Never leave me, my Dark Angel. Drink me until you've left nothing but the skin over my bones. Take what you want, for I am yours.

He stopped. He pulled away, and I could see him through my half-lidded eyes as he licked his lips and kissed my face gently. It was unfortunate that I found myself far too weak to return any of his favors,

"You taste so sweet, puppy." He whispered to me, lifting my chin easily and kissing my lips. I was too weak to kiss him back, like I knew he wanted me to. But I knew that he expected me to be weak. I blinked, and then my feet gave out from beneath me, and I fell, unable to hold myself up for lack of strength. But I was caught in his arms, and he cradled me, my body was so cold, but his cloak warmed me. His arms held me, and the room darkened around me.

He took me out of the living room. He was walking slowly down the hall. I could recognize the colours of the walls that passed before my eyes in a blur. I swallowed and closed my eyes, and was laid down on a bed, naked and weak and white as snow, and the warmth of his cloak and body left me all too soon, to be replaced with a comforter. And then another one. I was so comfortable, and my body was warming very slowly.

I could barely see him above me as he watched me. I felt so weak and I could feel his lips on mine a last time for the evening, before he smiled against my skin and cooed to me. I truly was a child in his eyes. "Shh..." he cooed down to me, and my eyes were so heavy. "Go to sleep now, puppy."

And he was gone. I was alone in my apartment, weak, but warmed, and I could feel the beating of my heart, slow, although trying its best to keep blood through my system. I was in a complete state of relaxation, feeling myself drift into much needed and anticipated sleep.

In my dreams I could hear his beautiful voice speak, and a single word came to me.

Seto.

His name was Seto.

I dreamt about that night many times, after it had actually happened. To me it seemed like some sort of magical dream that I could only hope would become reality, and sometimes it even seemed like it didn't even happen to me, like I was watching it on some really romantic horror movie, and the more I watched it and thought about it the more I wanted to know all about how it would end. The fact about him being a vampire didn't alarm me, surprisingly, but more intrigued me. It explained practically everything. His beauty, his sharp coldness, his mystifying aura, the way he moved, smelled, spoke. And his name...oh Gods, the loveliness of his name, and how his voice spoke to me through the darkness, in such a seductive whisper that made my eyes droop and my heart quicken to beat.

After that rather "enchanting" night, when I woke and found myself restored of energy, I found it was Wednesday afternoon, and that I had slept for a day and a half, but all I did was dream of him, and what he did to me, and how he completely had me under his spell. When I woke I found I could do nothing but reach for the puncture marks on my throat, and smile, as though I had felt his lips ghost across mine, and feel his hands run along my warm skin, and feel his breath tickle my ear. There was no doubt about it, despite the fact that I was weak, although thankfully not as weak as before, all I could do was grin and blush, and think to myself that I had my own personal vampire god who came to visit me, and drink from me the blood, my blood to which he said, "you taste so sweet". And his nickname for me...even though it originally hadn't come from him, it sounded so heavenly coming from his lips, echoing off his voice, it felt like electricity rippled through my system as he called me "puppy", smiling just slightly.

I knew that this vampire now thought of me as a pet. He drank from me my blood, and he called me a puppy, and he chose to see me whenever he wanted, and do to what he wanted, and because I had completely surrendered to him when he drank from me...yes, I will accept it. I am his pet, I am his property, and he may do to me just about whatever the fuck he wants.

Who knows how I got to school on Thursday morning, I was lost in my own little world, replaying the entire scene over and over in my mind, coming out of the shower to find him standing in my living room, staring at me with hunger in his eyes. Asking him silly questions, and then feeling him hold me and kiss me, and then bite me and drink from me. When my mind wandered, my daydreams were plagued of him, and when I slept I longed to hear his seductive voice speak to me through the waves of darkness, and to dream of him smiling at me, holding me, kissing me, biting me, drinking me. When I was in the shower I jacked off to the fantasy of him appearing and stripping me of all my clothes, and drinking from me as he made love to me. My world was suddenly at a golden point.

But finally it was Thursday, the second last day of school, and during the summer I would have to work, but at the same time I would be on edge with excitement, secretly hoping every night that the vampire, that Seto would come back and visit me, and he would drink from me again, and hold me like he had done the first time. I was so excited, just like at the end of any school year, for summer to come. But this year I was especially excited.

At the beginning of fourth period, in the afternoon, I arrived early for class after lunch, and sat at my seat staring out the window, thinking of Seto, thinking of that night, when Otogi came into the room, looking a bit pissed-off, and when he saw me sitting at the back staring out the window, he let out an aggravated sigh and slumped down in the seat in front of me. "Where the hell have you been?" he began to grumble, but even though I wasn't looking at him, I could feel his alarmed expression. "Holy shit man, you okay? You're all pale and zombie looking." His eyebrow rose in suspicion, as if he suspected I had gone zombie on him. Attentively he lit a smoke, still keeping his suspicious gaze upon me.

I don't think I was even paying attention to him at first. I was staring out at the sky, thinking about Seto, and about everything, and yet my body found the time to respond to Otogi's questions. My shoulders shrugged, seemingly without my permission, and I spoke. "I didn't get enough sleep."

Otogi was obviously willing to partake in any discussion, but I wondered why he was here at school when he had the reputation to skip the last remaining days of school before any vacation. I wouldn't have been surprised if he was staying just to get the teachers all freaked out, and make them think that he had some awful prank in store for them, or something of the sort. I could smell the smoke from his cigarette, and the pungent smell of his cologne, which didn't stir my emotions like it used to. Now that I think about it, Otogi wears too much of the stuff, and too much of it smells really awful. I'm surprised flowers don't die when he walks past them, or why people don't gag when he talks to them, like I was doing now. It smelled way too artificial, like he was trying to smell like some sort of porn star. I so much prefer Seto's fragrance, it's so intoxicating and addicting, like the smell of coffee. You get a whiff and have to breathe it in further. And the best thing is that I don't think Seto uses cologne at all, I think that's his natural scent, and that's what makes it all the much more exhilarating!

Otogi was now smiling at me, and I finally looked at him. Now that I think about it, Otogi's smile is a little apprehensive. He never shows his teeth when he smiles, you have to wonder, what's he hiding?

"Hangover?" he asked, grinning at me, taking a drag off his cigarette. I didn't suspect I looked as though I had a hangover, despite the fact I was probably very pale, but I didn't feel like answering that stupid question of his. I lowered my head to cradle in my palms and stared at the long line of eyeliner beneath his left eye. My mind scowled him. Seto's so beautiful he doesn't even need make-up.

"Is your neck still ripped up?" Otogi asked, and I reached up to touch my neck. Yeah, yesterday when I got up I somehow found my way to the drugstore, I had enough money to buy some band-aids, which was good, because it really isn't attractive to walk around with your neck, healing up but sorta torn out, and then two questionable puncture marks right beneath it. I was sure to make sure it was all covered up with band-aids before going anywhere.

I smiled just a little. "Yeah, the nurse said that it wasn't infected." I felt myself blush just a little bit, if that's even possible. I remember exactly what "nurse" had said that, and he also had mentioned that it was good, because he didn't want me to get sick on him. I had to repress a giggle so Otogi wouldn't look at me weirdly, or think something dirty, like me and nurse getting it on in the room or something. Only Otogi would come up with something like that and talk about it openly.

Otogi was staring out the window, like I had done when he first come in, and the worm of ashes on his cigarette got longer. I wondered what he was thinking so hard about. It's kind of rare for Otogi to be kind of distracted like this, but I supposed for some interesting reason he had a lot on his mind. "You wanna come with me and Honda for a beer tonight?" he asked, not looking at me as he tapped out the worm of ashes onto my desk, using it as his own personal ashtray, but I didn't tell him not to.

I looked at him, blinking, and thinking that that was the reason he was being so quiet. He asked if I wanted to go for a beer, but what had happened last time we had gone for drinks? Yeah, that's right, I ended up in the bathroom with a chick sucking at me, and Otogi wasn't very proud of it. I was certain that he had hesitated before asking.

I thought for a single moment. Without even thinking my hand traveled up to my neck, touching very tenderly, and I wondered if I went for drinks with Otogi and Honda, would I miss Seto if he came by? Would Seto come by at all today, for his nightly feed? I giggled at that, knowing that I was the vampire's nightly feed. I almost wanted to tell him that I could be anything and everything else for him, not just a feed. I could be a messenger, I could be a sort of servant, I could be a pleasure pet. I was at his feet, under his command. Even with his strong vampire powers, I was sure he could bend me to his will at any time, but there would be no need. I was already prepared to obey his every command. Could I even risk going out anymore?

Then again I hadn't talked to Otogi for a while, not like we used to talk, anyway, and it would be nice to catch up on some things, if there were things to catch up on. After the fiasco with Cookie I was certain there was always a bit of awkwardness between him and me. But he was still my friend, and I didn't want to ignore him. "Where are you guys going? Mango's bar?"

I hadn't even thought about Otogi's girlfriend until I heard her name roll off of my tongue. And by the way his face sort of scrunched up, I knew things weren't going so well for them. I wondered if it was because of what happened with Cookie and me. But I wasn't compassionate. Not for very long at least. It was Mango's fault for lending me out her slut-friend for the night, not mine. As a matter of fact, I was sick of her whiny crying nature, I would just fine knowing that they had broken up.

Otogi ground the remainder of his cigarette into my desk, with little respect for school property, and I watched the ashes make a dirty mark in front of my eyes. I could tell by his simple gestures, by the sounds he made, the sighs and little groans, that no, they weren't together anymore. Either that or they were having problems. I prayed for either one.

"No," Otogi snorted after a little awhile, and for a moment I forgot what we were disagreeing about. But he finished his sentence and suddenly I knew again. "I'm done with that bitch." I could literally taste the venom in his voice, like it were a sour substance upon my tongue. It was foul and I made a face at the remark. Yeah, something had really not gone too well between them. "She was going to give me AIDS if it went on any longer." Oh, so that was the reason.

I knew their relationship was sexual, and Otogi had a large sex drive. I wasn't surprised that Mango got around; she worked in the type of place where that seemed almost common. I didn't want to say anything; I could see his obvious annoyance in the subject upon his features. I gave him an itty-bitty smile. "Glad to hear that she's gone." I said rather quietly; I was worried he would take offense to that.

Otogi shook his head a little bit, like one of those figurines of dogs where you touch their heads and they bob back and forth, like they don't have a neck and they can't quite make up their minds about something. Maybe Otogi wasn't quite sure if his breaking up with Mango was a good thing or a bad thing. But soon he didn't give it much more thought. "You coming with us tonight?"

I nodded before I realized just what I was agreeing to do. But then I remembered. Right, going for drinks. I could afford leaving the apartment for a few hours, I suppose. Seto probably wouldn't even stop by tonight, although I would have liked him to. Maybe I'd come home and he'd be waiting for me, sitting on the sofa, like he did the first night he bit me, looking beautiful and alluring, charming me to his will. Not smiling, glaring, looking maybe a little bit annoyed, like I had gone out without asking his permission first. "Yeah, count me in."

He was nodding again that weird nod that didn't mean anything, and I stared at him. The cigarette burned to ashes between his fingers, but he didn't pay attention, in fact he barely seemed to notice. I watched it until the worm was completely fallen against the desk and the smoke sucked out up into the air.

Not many things crossed my mind in that short moment, before the bell rang and students began to arrive for their second last day of classes. Otogi remained where he was, in front of me, staring at the little pile of ash in front of him, until the teacher yelled at him, told him to clean it up and take a seat. Of course that didn't go over well with him, as usual, and he began a fight that likely would not go out to him. Sooner or later he took his seat and was quiet for the rest of the class. I watched him, confused. Something was on his mind; he wasn't as lively as he usually was, that much was for sure. Maybe he was truly contemplating his breakup with Mango, like he was torn apart between what he wanted and what was right. I sighed. A miserable Otogi really isn't a lot of fun. I hoped by tonight he would be a bit livelier.

The afternoon dragged, like I was sure it would. I was glad to get my backpack from my locker and shrug my way out of school, still wondering what was wrong with Otogi, but looking forward to our get-together that night. I hadn't seen either him or Honda in what seemed like ages. It would be great to just sit down and talk around a few beers.

On my way out the hall to the exit doors, I passed Yugi. I examined him as much I could before walking past him. He had a black eye on his left eye, and his cheeks were stained red, like he had been crying for years. He never looked at me, but when he walked by me, he cringed in fear, and passed me, picking up the pace as much he could.

I hung my head. I should have chased him down and talked to him about some of the stuff that was going on, but I knew he would only just run away, and become totally confused when I tried to speak to him. Damnit, I wish there was some way I could just completely turn back time, make sure none of this had ever happened to him. He really didn't deserve it. No really, he didn't.

That mark on his left eye...my gut feeling told me that Otogi had something to do with it, that he was taking out his unusual frustration on his daily punching bag. That made me all the more angry as I walked home.

I never made it to the intended get together with Otogi and Honda for beers.

As a matter of fact I didn't leave the apartment at all.

Seto decided to drop by, just like I secretly hoped he would.

He arrived around seven o'clock, when I was at the stove cooking whatever food was left in the house for my dinner. I hadn't sensed him at all; I was completely oblivious to his entrance. In my mind I secretly hoped that he'd come by for a little visit before I went out to see Honda and Otogi, and when I went to the pantry to get the baking soda, he was sitting at my grubby kitchen table on one of the seats, smiling at me in his usual smirking attire. I swear I almost had a fucking heart attack.

I told him not to sneak up on me like that, and I turned my back to him, but that was only to hide my excitement for him being here, although I know with his powers he already knew I was excited beyond belief to see him again so soon. I was adding too much baking soda to whatever the hell I was cooking, right now I couldn't give a shit, and suddenly I wasn't very hungry, but I pretended that it was something that needed my special attention, and I couldn't pull away from it.

I suppose he took great offense to being ignored, or snubbed, because he came up behind me while I was at the stove, and laid his hands on my hips. I was so surprised that I dropped the box of baking soda, spilling its contents all over the counter, and when I reached for the stained dishtowel hanging off the oven, that didn't work too well, he stopped me by grabbing my wrist, and pulling me close to him. I couldn't help but let out a little sigh at the thought of being close to him again, his body touching mine. He pressed me against his chest, something I thought he would never do; he seemed too much of a creature of darkness to be so...mushy.

As though he read my thoughts he pulled away, darkly, leaving me standing distraught at the stove, and when my eyes followed him I could tell by the wave of motion that caught his long coat that he was annoyed. But I couldn't understand why. I stared at him in confusion, and he turned and looked at me, his eyes were dark and seemed shadowed, almost like he were furious. I bit my lip. Suddenly I was afraid of his presence there, he was like a forbidding shadow lurking in the middle of my kitchen, and I didn't know what the hell he would do next.

"You humans are so pitiful." He sneered to me, in the wave of darkness that was his alluring voice. This statement confused me. Had I done something to reflect such an opinion?

I blinked at him, completely unsure what to do. Luckily he began to speak again, so I wouldn't have to. He loomed towards me in liquid strides, his eyes never left me, and his beautiful face was stern and cold as marble stone. I gripped the stove behind me, staring at him as he approached me. I swallowed in what almost seemed like fear. Fear of him.

He was suddenly close to me, inches away, so close that I felt a gasp leave my lips. I think my arms were shaking, my lips trembling. What would he do? He looked so angry.

"You don't know what to take when its being offered..." he hissed at me, I could feel his cool breath on my skin, making the hairs on the back of my neck rise. "You're weak, and you're helpless..." his voice seemed to change tones all of a sudden, and I noticed his expression softened just a little bit. Slowly he backed away from me, but he continued to stare. I almost felt like panting, I was so freaked.

He let out a little smirk. I frowned. I really hated that smirk sometimes. It bothered me, just the sight of it. I took my hands away from the stove and stood, staring at him, but because of his immense height I felt like I was suddenly getting smaller and smaller.

His smirk widened, and turning his back to me, he opened one of the drawers above the cupboards. I stared at his back, blinking, wondering what on earth had just happened, what he had been talking about, why I had suddenly been so afraid of him. I pushed a hand through my hair, the locks catching in my fingers. Man, vampires sure were hard to understand. Their auras and nature were just too...weird.

Seto seemed to find what he was looking for. He removed something from the drawer, and then closed it, but I hadn't seen his hands move. I blinked; I probably looked really stupid standing there staring at him. But I was curious to know just what he was doing, what he was looking for.

He turned around, slowly, like he was tormenting me in such way unknown to me, and the same smirk crossed his lips when my eyes traveled down to his hand, to see what it was he had removed from the drawer. My eyes widened just a little bit, and my heart seemed to skip a beat.

A roll of duct tape.

I looked back up at Seto again, amusement danced in his eyes, and the same expression seemed to wield across his face. I however, was sure I had a rather horrified look on my face, wondering why he was holding duct tape, what he intended to do with that duct tape, and then cursing myself for even having duct tape in the first place!

In a smooth motion he held out his hand and made a gesture with the curl of his long, elegant white fingers for me to come forward. I found myself stumbling towards him, was it against me will, I wasn't quite sure. But I went towards him, I noted how his smirk grew and his eyes continued to dance with a sort of humor. I bit my lip; I can't tell you that I wasn't a little bit...freaked out.

I was standing up against him now, staring up at him, wondering what he would do. He lifted a hand and ran his smooth thumb over my bottom lip in a teasing matter, like he was judging if my lips were truly as soft as they looked. He gripped my chin, like he had done a few times before, and leaning down into me I closed my eyes before I could truly see inside his. I was scared of what I would see.

He kissed my lips gently, and this startled me. Since he arrived his behavior was...different to me, alarming, and the kiss was no different. He was sweet at first, I noticed, using only his lips in a gentle massaging order against mine, and when he pulled away, he smiled down at me, like he knew his triumph. He knew it like I knew it. One kiss and I was his again. His to do whatever he wanted with.

I was in a sort of daze as I heard the duct tape being pulled from its place, and I felt Seto hold my hands together, wrist to wrist, and without taking his eyes away from me in my stunned form he used the duct tape to bind my hands together, careful in his work, rolling the tape around my hands smoothly and slowly, like he was afraid to leave a single wrinkle.

He tore the tape, and tossed away the duct tape. My eyes were transfixed on his lips, I couldn't look at anything else, my mind was still back with the kiss. I doubt I even knew that he had bound my hands together at the time. He was amused, I could hear the low chuckle in his throat, it made my eyes droop a little. I felt him rise my arms, they lifted up and over his head against my will, I was unable to pull them apart, and they were around his neck, and then around his back. I blinked in slow motion; I was so oblivious as to what was happening.

With ease he picked me up in his arms, one hand on my hip and the other flattened against my back. Against my will I felt my legs come up and curl around his waist, I was staring at his jacket-clad shoulder, feeling him carry me away from the kitchen. I looked up and saw the stove disappear behind the wall that separated the living room from the kitchen.

I bowed my head into his shoulder, I breathed in his intoxicating scent, the aroma I loved so much, and despite the fact I had no power in the movement of my hands, I did my best to try to hug to him, try to hug his chest. I was feeling a little bit tired.

Seto sat down on my sofa; he leaned back to make himself comfortable. My eyes were half open but I had barely enough strength to pull my head back and look at him. But as soon as we came face to face he kissed me again, on the lips, his eyes closing slowly. I had barely any energy to kiss him back.

He was doing this. He was zapping my energy, probably so I wouldn't fight back. I knew what as coming next.

Sure enough, his kisses began to travel. He kissed my lips, and taking hold of my chin he kissed the corners of my mouth, my chin, my throat, down to the side of my neck, where he had fed the last time we met. I felt my eyes close as my began to kiss the same spot over and over, tenderizing the skin before his brutal penetration. My fingers tried to grasp his jacket, as I felt the sharpness of his fangs against my skin. I bit down onto my lip, as he bit my neck all at once. I let out a tired scream, which drowned right away, but the pain was sharp and it lingered.

His fangs made a withdrawal from my neck. I could feel the blood rushing to my wound. It was an unpleasant feeling, it hurt, but I knew any moment it would be replaced with the blissful feeling of blood being taken from me and gushing over his lips. I waited in this pain, but he didn't lean forward to drink from me. I looked at him in question, my eyes were full of something in my mind I could only describe as hurt. At least that's what I wanted to reflect in my eyes.

Seto watched ruby drops spill from the two puncture wounds. He never once looked at me. He watched the drops fall down my skin, and then leaning forward he used his tongue to swipe the blood clean. I let out a shudder of pleasure mixed with pain. It was such an interesting way for him to take blood, not my favourite, but definitely exciting.

I gripped his jacket again, he continued to clean the blood that spilled, and I didn't tell him not to. But questions arose in my mind. "What are you doing this?" my voice sounded so unfamiliar to me, like the voice of an insomniac, of someone who hadn't slept in years, or who felt like shit.

His tongue cleaned another spilled drop. I heard him smack his lips as he enjoyed his treat. "What's that?" he asked, purring into my ear as he went in for another taste.

Yeah, as though he didn't know. I wanted to roll my eyes but didn't have the strength for it. "Let me bleed..." I whispered. I was almost sure he hadn't heard me.

I heard him chuckle, and his tongue swiped against my skin again, cleaning my wounds. His hand began to rub into my back, almost like he was comforting me. "I find your blood tastes sweeter when licked from your skin," he purred seductively into my ear, before dropping his lips for another sweet blood lick. He let out a sigh in great satisfaction. "Rather than from the wound."

He was giving me back my energy. Very slowly, in little doses, like he expected me to abuse it. But I was able to keep my eyes open, and now I could really feel the pain from his actions. I hissed and bit down on my lip, I tried to grip his jacket, but nothing really helped to drive the pain away. Damn him and giving me back my strength!

But then again maybe he was taking away my strength so I wouldn't feel the pain so much. Hmm...

"What if you bleed me dry?" I dared to ask him, and all at once I realized that that was a gross question. I was going to lose all my blood through those two wounds? That would be a very long, painful and sickening process that I for one did not want to think about.

Seto much have sensed that I had been so disgusted with the question. He began to chuckle, his handle traveling up to the other side of my neck to hold me in place, like he had done the first time he drank from me. "I won't." he told me, like he was promising me something he was thinking about. He licked up another drop. "I won't kill my puppy..."

That nickname. Damn the nickname...I felt myself melt into him.

"Very reassuring." I was able to sarcastically mutter, and a little hint of a smile came upon my lips when I heard him chuckle at my remark. I sucked in a deep breath, feeling myself weaken further. He began to drink just in little doses from the puncture wounds, and the bliss came over me again. I sighed in content, holding onto him like he was going off to war and I wouldn't see him again for a very long time.

Suddenly the phone started to ring.

I jumped, but Seto remained completely calm, and continued to drink from me. I tried to get up and away from him, but he wouldn't have it. He held me tightly, making sure I wouldn't go anywhere.

"The phone!" I exclaimed rather weakly, trying to explain to him that I needed to answer it. But I probably didn't need to. I had the sickening feeling it was Otogi wondering where the hell I was.

"Leave it." Seto told me in a no-nonsense matter, and opened his lips to drink from me again. I quickly forgot about the phone that was anxiously ringing in the other room. I bit down on my lip, trying to push it away from my mind, the furthest away from my mind.

"It's probably Otogi-"I let out a sharp gasp; he began to drink too quickly and all at once it hurt a little bit. I gripped his jacket and bit down onto my lip. I started to tug at the duct tape he secured my hands with, but they refused to give away. "I was supposed to meet them for a drink..." my eyes were so droopy, and I was getting so tired. "I completely...forgot..."

He chuckled again, pulling his lips away from my wounds. I couldn't feel the wound bleeding anymore, although I could still feel my life fluid inside my body. He hadn't drunk all of it to the last drop, like he had done so before. He left some for me, so I could recuperate a little quicker. I loved him for it.

"Silly puppy..." he murmured against my lips, and pressed his icy lips to mine in a sweet kiss, but I was so tired I could barely kiss back, despite the fact that I wanted to, more than anything.

Yes, I was a silly puppy. Silly to allow myself to fall victim to such a beautiful creature, silly to allow myself to be fed upon and toyed with, silly to let myself fall in love with him...

His name lingered in my mind, and his taste still on my tongue when the darkness took me into its sweet embrace.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter! More soon to come!


	9. Chapter Eight

I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh

Chapter Eight

A/N: I decided that I would update on Fridays and Saturdays only. This way you'll know when to expect an update and it'll be a nice start to your weekend! Enjoy this chapter!

Seto didn't leave that night. He didn't leave at all.

He put me down in my bed, like he usually did, a little while after I drifted off. The loss of blood made me tired, I suppose he thought I had passed out. He stripped me of my shirt, and my jeans, and slipped my half-awake form between the sheets. I was delighted in the crisp coolness of the sheets and how comfortable the mattress felt beneath me. I know I fell asleep right away; my body felt like a ton of bricks, and I was brought wonderfully into a nice, comforting sleep.

I dreamt of walking through my favourite street, on my way to the Domino City Center, taking long smooth strides on the freshly paved sidewalk, staring off into the windows of the shops that I passed, and gazing up at the stars that seemed almost as bright as the sun. There was a smell of rain in the air, that freshness that no one could ever tire of. I breathed it in, I walked, I allowed myself to wander anywhere my feet chose to take me, my mind did nothing but allow my eyes to gaze at the wondrous scene I saw before me.

But then it was suddenly different. As I was walking down the street I noticed the lights in the shop went off one by one, in a stream of darkness, before I could take a step towards their doors, the lights were off, and the people had left. And the streetlights, which gave me the eerie silver illumination, which captured the mist of the evening, began to fade until they too had gone dark. And my gaze wandered to the enchanting towers of Domino downtown, and in a blink of an eye the lights began to switch off, one by one, until each of the towers were black as the rest of the world around me.

It was as if there was a power outage, like Domino city was a ghost town I had come to explore. There was no light, there was not a soul on the streets, there were no vehicles zooming past me, there was no cigarette smoke in the air when I passed the taverns. There was nothing, not a sound, not the wind rushing through the trees. There was not a light, nothing that could help me find my way.

But I looked again up at the stars, and to my brilliant fascination I noticed that they were glowing with astonishing incredibility, like each one of them had been alit with a fiery silver flame and were burning brightly, accompanied by the moon, that gave off such glow it was mesmerizing, the moon as big as a house even, round and full, hanging in the sky. The stars seemed to dance for me; the moon was smiling down at me. Everything was just a show of beauty put on especially for me. All at once it was like I knew why there weren't any lights on in the city.

I sniffed the air. There were so many scents that drifted about. The smell of the rain that was hours away, the distant smell of baking bread from the bakery, the smell of the cement drying across the road at the crosswalk, the smell of coffee going cold in the pots of the café. But there was one scent I recognized above them all, more than the others. The smell of that wonderful intoxicating scent I knew so well, as it lingered on my body and in my hair when pressed against his body, the smell I knew and loved so much I never wanted to shower to make it go away. Seto's cologne, Seto's scent, the greatest smell on earth.

I felt a hand graze my hip, and I smiled all at once, and leaning into my right I was up against a warm body, that held that cologne. And I knew that I was with him, I was with Seto, we were walking together through the streets, like friends, like lovers, like we hadn't seen each other in years and only wished to speak of our adventures. He was next to me and held me as we walked, his eyes set on the road ahead of him.

It was magnificent, walking with him in such a fashion, out to discover the world of darkness that had given birth to us, embracing it with such romantic passion. We dwelled in each other's company contentedly, he held me to his hip as if I were a child who needed his special attention. I clung to him like I needed his lifeless support. Now and then as we walked his silky lips stole a brush against my temple and I would feel his eyes close and his joy of being with me like this. And I was smiling, I could feel myself smiling brightly, like I hadn't smiled in years. Like this was the first time I had ever been happy.

And suddenly I was running, running the fastest I could through this world of darkness, and everything around me was a blur as I went, my feet traveling in quick speed upon the earth below, my blonde locks flying behind me, my jacket caught in the gusts of wind. I was running so fast, my senses were so high, and I was holding his hand, Seto, and he was running beside me, just as fast, like we were racing but not against each other. And when we stopped all he could do was smile at me warmly and kiss me like we had known each other for years and years.

This was all I wanted. Something new, something good, something fast...something exciting, all in all the elements that would complete my world. Warmth, reality, strength...something all in all thrilling.

This dream was a reflection of what I wanted in my life.

And when I woke up, I saw him sitting in the shadows, in the corner of my room, his cobalt eyes stood out like the moonlight, that highlighted the visible portion of his face, made his eyes glow beautifully, like a wild cat of some sort, like their yellow eyes, except his were blue, but they were bright, and they were upon me.

When I had the strength to smile, I did. I smiled at him, and watched as his expression changed in the slightest way. His eyebrows lowered gingerly and his eyes seemed to narrow, like he was getting ready to pounce on me, like he really was a sort of jungle cat, a hungry one that demanded its dinner. I, looking so vulnerable on the bed, must have seemed like the perfect entrée.

But that's what I did. I smiled at him, and I was more than thrilled to find that my strength had come back. Not completely, but at least half had returned. So with my newfound strength I turned onto my stomach, hugging my pillow and blanket, and brushing the blonde bangs out of my eyes, I looked up and angled myself so I could look at him. I smiled at him again, and we were there, in that room of darkness, with the single beam of moonlight coming in through the window, just staring at each other. Not a word was spoken, there was not a sound, and I found I could think of nothing as I stared at him, at his beautiful face, into his beautiful eyes.

Why? That was all I could ask myself. Last night, before I fell asleep, after he drank from me, I told myself that I was silly; I was silly for letting myself fall in love with him. But was I falling in love with him? Was that why my thoughts during the day were plagued of nothing but thoughts of him? And the fact that he haunted my dreams every night? That he entered my mind of ecstasy whenever I was in the shower, or when I felt such bliss when he held me and drank from me. And when he kissed me, and all my thoughts and worries were suddenly silenced inside my head, and replaced with a simple feeling of warmth and adoration...was that love?

But he would never love me back. I knew it. He wasn't like that. I mean come on, a vampire and a human? He seemed far too distant for something like that. I knew, just from my moments with him, that he would never let anyone into his life. I could tell by the look in his eyes when he looked at me, like he was almost considering it but was against it. I suppose I'm flattering myself. I was a pet to him, nothing but. Just a measly mortal who he liked to suck on now and then, and then discard like he had no more use for me. That was all I was to him, he would never love me, not like I would love him.

He shifted in the corner. His shoulders rolling back and his eyebrows rose just a little, but his eyes were still upon me, and didn't leave. I wondered if he did this often. If he watched me as I slept, relishing in watching me dream and regain both my blood and strength over the night. I hadn't really thought about it before. Mostly I thought he just drank from me and then he left, and wouldn't turn back until he returned the next evening for his nightly feed. I had never really thought about him staying after he fed. Was it to make sure I'd get better, that I wouldn't die in my sleep? Was that it?

I stared at him; my expression was saddened, until I drifted back to sleep. His piercing blue eyes were still inside my mind as I closed my eyes and entered a dead, dreamless sleep.

I was leaving the school building when Otogi approached me. I hadn't seen him all day, and not once had I thought back to our deal of getting together for drinks last night. But I could tell by the look on his face that he wasn't angry about it. That was a break, to say the least.

Today was the last day of school, if you don't count the exams next week. I was rather happy to know that for a glorious two months or so I wouldn't have to look at these people or worry about homework or anything of the matter. At least after I had the exams out of the way. Who knew how those would go.

I was somewhat of a mess that day. I had thought a lot about the night before, about what I had thought about when I saw Seto. Luckily no one really seemed to notice. The teachers looked so happy I was sure they were going to go out and get drunk as soon as that bell rang. The same could be said for most of the students, who looked so bored and at the same time so jumpy, thus was interesting to watch them during the day. But my thoughts continued to be filled with contemplations of Seto the vampire.

When I got up that morning, sure enough, Seto was gone, as I had suspected. He left without a trace, and left no inclination as to when he would come back, not that I was really sure he would. He had been coming by a lot recently; I wouldn't be surprised if he felt he needed a break from me. And to tell you the truth, despite the fact that I was sure I was in love with him, I didn't need my blood drained every single night. Not to mention how weak I was every day; this morning I could barely get myself to school. Luckily it was the end of the school year, and not the beginning. That would have been hell.

My final period dragged. The teacher was lecturing us about how over the summer we should really be thinking about how to spend our time in our next school-year, how to study for upcoming tests and quizzes, how to be punctual and a good student. No one in the room was listening; all eyes were darted in the direction of the clock on the opposite wall, where the minute hand seemed to defy the laws of time, and refused to move.

I joined in their watch of the clock, but different thoughts filled my mind. At 4 o'clock the bell would ring and I would be on my way home. Would Seto come by in a few hours, say 8 o'clock or so? He always came a little late. Maybe tonight I would stay up late and watch a movie and wait for him or something, so instead I'd be waiting for him for a change, instead of his usual catching me off guard when I was cooking or in a towel. Maybe he wouldn't come by at all tonight, and I'd go to sleep early, and then wake up to find him there, standing in the corner as he had done last night, watching me sleep, with a neutral look on his face, like he was sorely contemplating something about me as he watched me sleep, like he was debating on whether or not I was worth his time, or if my blood was good enough for him, or if it was risky to come back to me night after night.

The bell rang at long last, and along with many of the other students I threw papers in the air and screamed out my joy of no more school. I walked casually but with an excited perk through the hallways of parading kids, who were throwing streamers and confetti around, somewhat upset about getting a lot of summer homework, but trying not to care or notice. I thought the amount of summer homework this year was rather generous.

When I left the school I was whistling a happy tune and thinking about what to do before the exams came round. I would have to study, no doubt about that. That made my whistle fade. I wasn't usually too great at studying, I really didn't know how, but I had all my books and was ready to sit down and kick some exam ass!

I only hoped that I wouldn't get too distracted in the nights that I had to study, if you know what I mean. Hehe...

I was ready to start walking home, with my backpack slugged over my shoulder, staring at the kids that went partying across the schoolyard and cheered from out of their cars. I laughed. Kids in this school really do like their precious summer vacation. I couldn't blame them; I was one of them. That was when I heard a familiar voice shouting my name from behind me. "Jounouchi!"

When I turned around I saw Otogi sticking his head outta his car, rolling down the road. I stopped and suppressed a smile, raising my hand to wave at him. I didn't remember about not meeting him for drinks last night. As a matter of fact it was the furthest thing away from my mind. If anything reminded me of last night it was how Seto chose to drink from me, or how he watched me in the corner as I slept, or how I dreamt of us being together in our dark world.

Otogi stopped next to me on the curb. He looked mighty happy. He was beaming. I wouldn't be surprised if he was damn happy, now he could go out and drink and abuse drugs and fuck all the prostitutes and desperate middle school girls he wanted without getting a call every second day from the principal about his slacking grades. Otogi really hated that. Once he told me that he was at home one morning, ditching school, as usual, and picked up a dirty chick from Tokyo who'd run away from home to get some sort of gig in Domino. Of course he being the bastard that he was told her that he knew some folks in the business and took her back to his place for a little action. He scowled when he told me that the principal called right as she was sucking him off, and then suspended him when he moaned and told him to fuck off, and that he was busy.

Well, now he could do that without getting hassled by anyone. And whether or not he showed up for exams, well that was still to be discovered. I'd actually be extremely surprised if he passed this year.

I walked towards where Otogi had pulled up on the sidewalk. He had a cigarette hanging out the corner of his mouth and from what I could see there were a few empty beer bottles resting in the driver's seat. Looks like he had been celebrating.

"Hey." I said, leaning down on the open window. I nodded to the beer bottles. "I see you've been post-celebrating.

He shrugged with a grin on his lips. "Yeah, maybe a little." Then his electric eyes narrowed to me, and for a moment I was quite startled. I knew it was coming now. He was going to ask where I was last night. I swallowed and tried to think up the quickest lie I could.

I couldn't tell him about Seto, not only would he not believe me but probably condemn me. And even though I knew I had to tell him sometime, I didn't feel like now in front of the school with a lot of homophobic students running around was the best time to tell him. So what could I say? Perhaps I did go drinking last night, as part of a celebration, and got hammered, and passed out on my couch? Would he buy that?

"We missed you last night." Otogi mentioned all of a sudden, and I was brought back to life by his words. I screeched back to mind as soon as I saw his electric green eyes watching me, not accusingly, curiously, and suddenly it almost felt like I couldn't lie to him, like I couldn't lie to those eyes. I couldn't lie to the person who I had confided all my trust into in the past.

I began to nod my head, a little too much. Y'know, when people begin to exaggerate nodding their heads and it looks like they wanna be head bangers? You can basically tell that they're lying when they do so. I was doing that. I tried to lighten up a bit. "Yeah..." I said. And then I quickly added. "I'm sorry about that."

He shrugged and turned his attention to the road. Some kids passed by in a car with a boom box at the window. I turned to look for a moment and then looked back at Otogi. He looked back at me. "S'okay," he said, but I was almost sure that he didn't even know what we were discussing anymore. "Figured you hooked up with some girl last night and wasn't able to make it." He grinned and his eyebrows bobbed up and down. I frowned slightly.

Shit...what could I tell him? Anything? I shrugged. "Something like that." I said unconvincingly. I pretended to look elsewhere, I was trying to come up with some sort of lie in case Otogi wanted further info. Of course I could have gone with that idea of telling him that I passed out last night in celebration. But then I was afraid he'd ask why I didn't just go out and get drunk with him and Honda.

I was fortunate, because Otogi didn't even seem to care anymore. He nodded to the passenger seat. "You busy now? Let's go get a beer, celebrate."

I looked at the collected beer bottles in the front seat, and I grimaced a little. "Are you sure you're sober enough to be driving?" Although he seemed sober enough, and his breath wasn't very intoxicated.

He nodded. "Those aren't all mine," he explained, looking at the beer bottles and chuckling a little. "Some are left over from last night." He looked back at me with a smile. "So you in? Just for an hour or something? One beer?"

One hour...that wasn't bad. I'd get home at about 6:30, and if Seto came by tonight it wouldn't be until later. And it would be nice to talk to Otogi at last, after the so many nights I promised to go out to the bar with him and ended up too sick or with a great loss of blood to keep up my promise. I'm sure we had a lot to talk about.

I nodded. "Yeah sure, why not." I crossed in front of the car, quickly ducking to avoid a flying roll of toilet paper, and opening the door, after pushing the beer bottles out of the seat, I sat down, throwing my backpack in the back, and watching the celebrating teenagers as we passed them in the car, silent at first, until Otogi told me exactly what Honda and he had done the night before.

I was listening, but only half listening. Something inside my head went off, like a light, I realized that it was the summer, and that Otogi still thought I was straight. Ugh, suddenly I didn't feel like getting a beer at all. My stomach was groaning in complaint of something, feeling hard and knotted inside, and I'm sure it didn't want to be poisoned anymore by alcohol.

I was quiet for most of the drive to the bar. Otogi talked and talked and I nodded and responded when I absolutely had to. But I was feeling disturbed. Should I tell him today? Today when it was summer? Today when I (thought) I had somewhat of a relationship going on with another guy? I knew Otogi would find out sooner or later, somehow, and it certainly would be better if I were to explain to him carefully instead of him like...breaking in on me and Seto (Hehe...I can dream) going at it on my couch or something.

Maybe it wouldn't be so bad...maybe if I very carefully told him, maybe then he wouldn't take it so badly. Maybe...

There was only one real way to find out. But I was terrified as to what may happen. When Otogi was talking that was when I finally made my just decision. Today I would tell him.

A/N: How will Otogi take the news? Find out next chapter!


	10. Chapter Nine

I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh

Chapter Nine

"Otogi! I have to tell you...something!"

He was looking at me, electric green eyes were blinking in confusion and expectance. My tone was rushed and over-the-top and convinced him that I probably had something very important to tell him. Although I thought it was peculiar how he was paying such close attention, I decided to go right ahead and tell him my news.

"Otogi..." I breathed in. "I am...a homosexual." I was suddenly breathless and I was watching his eyes the entire time. I saw them go bright for a moment, whether it was from shock or delight I wasn't sure.

He bit down on his bottom lip and made an interested noise in his throat. Then he said, "Hmm...Christ. Uhh...is there anything I can do to come to terms with my own homophobia?" suddenly he was looking up at me again sort of expectantly.

I was nodding, and suddenly I was holding a newspaper in my hand. When did I get the newspaper? Who knows. Anyway... "Yes there is." I opened the paper in my hands and came to an article about a PFLAG gathering that was happing in Domino City downtown Thursday nights at 7:30. In giant bold letters it said "**Parents, Families, and Friends of Gays, Lesbians and Bisexuals**". Beside the logo was a little clip-art picture of a flag.

I handed it to Otogi, gulping down the lump that developed in my throat. "Here it is Otogi. It's called a PFLAG group. It means 'Parents, Families, and Friends of Gays, Lesbians and Bisexuals'."

Otogi took the newspaper from me and looked it over. I was wringing my hands to see what he would say. His eyebrows tweaked in mild interest and he began to nod his head. "Oh. A PFLAG. How promising does that sound?" then he was smiling at me, and suddenly his hair was done up in curlers.

I was scowling at him. Okay...what was going on here? I told him I was gay, and he seemed to accept it just like that. He liked the sound of going to PFLAG meetings, and suddenly he was wearing hair curlers and a housecoat? Where the hell did he get that rolling pin from?

Wake up Jounouchi, damn it! WAKE UP!

Slap

"Jou! Aren't you listening to me?"

That was Otogi's voice. I shook my head and my eyes focused on the road. That's right, we were still in the car. We were going out for a beer. Everything was coming back to me now. I must have been caught up in my own thoughts when Otogi thought I was listening to him ramble on.

"So, anyway-" I looked over and Otogi was concentrating on his driving, but not too much. He had a cigarette dangling from his lips and hadn't opened another bottle of beer, a box of them were sitting snugly between his seat and the foot pedals. Real smart there Otogi. It was good he hadn't opened another one though.

"Yeah, and that was when Mango decided that she ought to talk to me about teen pregnancy." Otogi said in a very insulted voice. "Teen pregnancy! I mean, can you believe that? Hello, I can't get pregnant!" he took a deep drag on his cigarette, moving it from his lips, and shaking his head. I was watching him now, wondering when the topic had suddenly turned to Mango. But I faintly remember, before going into my rather dazed state, that he had started to bitch and moan about how and why they broke up.

Once again I had resumed to pretend I was listening to a word he had to say. I was thinking about my little "dream". I had told him really bluntly, hadn't I? Of course a smart me wouldn't have done that. But then again Otogi wouldn't have been so cool about it and asked about joining a PFLAG. Did we even have PFLAG's in Domino? Hmm.

But I had to think to myself some more. How was I going to tell him? I decided that yes, today I was going to tell him, and that was that! No matter if he got mad or if he was fine with it I was going to tell him today, because it was summer and I more less had nothing much to lose...except his friendship. But was I really about to gamble that?

Of course if he was really a friend worth keeping he would accept me for who I was, and admire my courage to tell him the truth, right?

...Right?

It upset me to think about it. And I didn't particularly want to listen to Otogi. There was something very unappealing about whatever the hell it was he was talking about. I guess I zoned out.

I began to think about Seto. Seto...

Beautiful Seto...sometimes I wondered what life would be like if we lived together. And I don't mean like, in those stupid sitcoms you see on TV in the afternoons. I'm thinking seriously, it would have been interesting if Seto and I lived together.

But something came across my mind. It was a stupid idea to even toy with. Seto wasn't like that; he never seemed like the type who could settle down into one place with one person for the rest of his immortal life. That bummed me out. And he would never stay with me, above all people. He probably wanted to find someone he could drink until they were dry, who didn't ask questions and offered him sexual favors. Nah...that doesn't sound like Seto either. I mean, he was a fucking vampire, if he wanted sexual favors from anyone, he could get them. He could get them from me, no problem. He could say one word and I'd be on my knees ready to service him.

But he didn't. And this got me thinking.

I read somewhere completely out of coincidence that vampires are very sexual creatures. Some liked to toy with their prey before killing them. Others liked to fuck and drink at the same time. Most of them were just so damn seductive that they did whatever the hell they felt like. I assumed that was it with Seto. Seto radiated sexual energy, and you can trust me when I say he's the most beautiful man in Domino City. It wouldn't surprise me in the least if he had had sex with almost half of Domino's beautiful citizens, men and women alike.

That was depressing to think about. He could have fucked with a million of his victims and yet he hasn't so much as touched me. ...Not really.

Maybe he sensed that I wanted him to. Maybe that's what's driving him off. Maybe he totally prefers the sport of it rather than the sex, and doesn't like anyone who would so willingly surrender their body to him, like I would. Perhaps he was totally and completely about skill.

Maybe I should play more hard to get...maybe I could go out every night and not see him every night and he would get curious and demand to know what I was up to. I could imagine it now. I'd come home tipsy and he'd be sitting on my couch, looking furious and stand up demanding where I've been. Wait no, scratch that. He wouldn't play himself off as desperate, or worried about the whereabouts of a mortal. Instead he'd just scowl at me and give me the tight-lip look. If he tried to bite me I'd push him away and get mad. Maybe I'd yell at him or something, really piss him off, throw something at him, make him want to kill me almost.

But I knew in the end he wouldn't kill me because if he wanted to he would have done so already. But I could give him reasons to. I could make him want to hurt me so badly that he'd storm out in a rage. Why wouldn't he just stay and hurt me? Hey, this is my fantasy! Don't interrupt!

Okay so anyway he'd leave me alone for awhile, probably for most of the summer. I'd be finished my exams and I'd find another job, probably at some coffee place or something. Hey! That doesn't sound too bad! I should totally look into that this week! Try and find a job on my favourite street! That'd be awesome!

Anyway, so I'd have my job and he'd leave me alone and I'd hang out with Honda and Otogi (assuming they hadn't shunned me by now), and maybe I'd fuck around a little, go to a few gay bars or something once I get a fake ID, totally get mauled by some hot guys. I'd be this total little slut, I'd drink and swear and smoke and fuck around and that's when Seto would come back. I could imagine coming back to the apartment with a guy I'd met at one of the bars. We'd be a bit drunk and start necking on the way up to my front door and just barely make it inside, with his hand down my pants and me finishing my beer and Seto would be there.

Ooh, he'd be pissed. But maybe he wasn't pissed, maybe he was jealous. If that was possible. Maybe vampires don't get those mortal feelings. Who knows. So anyway I'd notice Seto right away and sorta say hi, I'd be laughing because I'd be drunk, and then I'd introduce the guy who's feeling me up, and he'd probably laugh and ask if Seto was joining us tonight. And that would totally push the buttons on Seto, I can so see it now. Seto would rush forward and pin him against the wall, pushing me out of the way, probably into the door, the beer bottle falling from my hands and shattering on the floor. And Seto would be furious, he'd slam him against the wall and snarl at him, saying stuff like 'don't the fuck you touch my puppy' although I've never heard him swear before and I can't really imagine him doing so. Neither can I really imagine him being so protective of me. But I can still dream, this is my fantasy.

Then he'd kill the guy! Well, maybe not kill him, drink him for sure! And then maybe push his half-dead body out my front door and then slam it on him, making him know he wasn't welcome. He'd be heaving, he'd be so pissed, and I'd be crumpled up on the floor looking up at him in confusion. I wouldn't say anything, he'd probably kill me on the spot if provoked.

But, and this is where it gets good, he'd see me and pick me up, you know just roughly around the shoulders, and it wouldn't be painful or anything, and he'd just fling me onto the couch. And once I'd gain my vision back and I wasn't so dizzy anymore, I would look up and see him towering over me taking off his trench coat. And I'd smile and tease him with my eyes, rising up on my knees and pulling him to me. He'd look down at me, curious as to what I was up to, and I'd slide my hands up his legs and over the growing bulge in his pants. I'd hear him hiss from the contact and I'd decide to take my chances and unbuckle his belt. But apparently he doesn't much like that idea because suddenly I'm lying back on the couch and he's on top of me, stripping off every article of my clothing that seems to him to be almost threatening, and then he flips me over and I'd hear his pants shuffle and his belt buckle jingle and I'd bite my lip and I'd let out a moan as I'd feel his big, hot, hard-

"Jounouchi!"

I gasped, and suddenly I was completely pulled from my daze. I was overcome with shock to find that the car had stopped, and we were sitting in front of a building that I didn't recognize.

Otogi was staring at me in his seat, his dark eyebrows burred in confusion and even irritation. I shook my head once and blinked a few times, clearing my throat and trying to smile at him. "Sorry..." I said quickly. "My mind's kinda somewhere else..."

He shrugged and nodded to the building we parked in front of. "No biggie. Come on." I watched him get out of the car, almost fluently, and close the door. I watched him as he walked around to the front of the building, towards the door. I noticed how rough his movements were, not smooth and sheer liquidly, like Seto. But I was not here to think about Seto (too late), but I was here to reveal to Otogi my sexuality, whether he (or I) liked it or not!

I got out of the car. The summer air hit me like a brick to my head. It carried all the sweet smells of the afternoon and of the shops nearby. It was a sunny afternoon, something I had seemed to have neglected through my daydreaming. I could only imagine all the parties and celebrations going on right at this moment for the occasion of no more school, all the students, all those homophobic students drinking and smoking pot and sleeping with the first person who seemed interested. Yes, this truly was the beginning of summer.

And here I was going to ruin it all...by telling Otogi, my best friend, one of my only friends, that I was a homosexual.

A part inside of me longed to cancel my plans. It spoke out in a little but strong voice, saying that now was not the right time, that I should wait for just a little longer, just to give Otogi enough time to become more comfortable about the idea of homosexuals. But another little voice told me in a very convincing way that he may never be okay with homosexuals, that now was as good as ever, that procrastination would only discourage me from ever telling him.

No, I had made my decision! I walked to the door of the bar with proud confidence. I was a gay teenage boy, and I am not ashamed. I am proud of who I am. Otogi is not going to make me feel any less about myself!

...I want my mommy.

"What's the matter with you?" Otogi asked, giving me a weird/humorous look, like I was making faces at the wall or something. He could easily tell I was distracted by something. I guess it was bothering him. He opened the door with one hand. I could smell the drugs and the beer, and the sounds of a football game and a rock band floated out along the air with the scents. I smirked. You'd think this was any other bar in Domino. The industry has no creativity.

I shook my head. "Nothing. Just distracted." I explained briefly, running a hand through my hair, and when I had seemed to even mildly convince him that my mind was all there, he proceeded into the bar, and I followed him, but in the pit of my stomach it almost seemed like I followed him to my doom.

The bar was crowded, but there wasn't a teenager in sight. I suppose all the adults of Domino decided summer was something to celebrate, even if they didn't get it entirely off. I don't think anyone noticed that we had come inside.

I found us a tiny table towards the back where we could sit and drink our drinks. I watched Otogi disappear into the crowd of people to get our beers. And in the time from when he left and when he returned, I was biting my nails and grinding my teeth in nervousness, trying to think of how to let Otogi know that I wasn't straight.

Sometimes I wondered why he hadn't figured it out already. Yeah sure he did drugs and drank and fucked prostitutes all the time, but he certainly wasn't stupid. The teachers called him that sometimes at school but it was never true. Otogi was, in truth, one of the most intelligent people I've ever known, and although that doesn't really speak for much, it's the truth.

Otogi probably knows he is too, although I know he'd hate to let others know it. That's why he acts the way he does in school. He likes to pretend he's a moron so everyone for the most part will leave him alone. He'd probably punch me in the face if I ever commented on his intelligence.

Yeah, this was weird...you'd think I'd have given him enough hints and clues to figure it out for himself (i.e. not going all the way with Cookie and complaining when she sexually harassed me). But I guess he either didn't believe it or wouldn't believe it. Who knows. But yeah...I'd be pretty suspicious if he hadn't figured it out for himself.

So...technically, it's Otogi's fault that I'm in this awkward situation!

He returned with the drinks a few minutes later. He had two beers in each hand and was grinning like an idiot. When he handed me the bottles and sat down sloppily next to me, he said. "Man, you have _got_ to see that bartender! Ho-ly shit! What a babe!" he popped off the bottle cap of his first beer and drained the alcohol about halfway before stopping. I could smell the beer on his breath.

I was more hesitant when it came to the beer. I took the one and pushed the other to the side. I was staring off at the people in the table next to us, a couple, guy and girl probably a few years older than me, making out in the secludedness of the shadow. I know it would seem pretty rude of me to stare and all so I was quick to turn my attention down to the bottle of beer in front of me. I had no thirst for it anymore. I was just staring at it blankly.

"Your neck still hasn't healed?" for a second I thought it had been Seto's voice in my ear, but it was Otogi's, and I nearly had a heart attack. After catching my breath a hand went to my neck, grazing the new bandages I put there that morning, and I nodded absent-mindedly. Otogi shook his head, looking rather disgusted. "Shit man, you should see a doctor, and I'm not talking about no school nurse, although she may look good in that short skirt, you should see a doctor with a PhD." he took a long swig of his beer. Somehow I got the feeling that he said that because he felt he had to, like he had to make himself look compassionate for me. Why? Who knows.

This was it. I knew it. My hands were shaking, and it wasn't just because the beer in my hands was cold. No...my hands were actually clammy. I put down the beer bottle and heard my heart pound in my throat like waves of thunder

"Otogi...we're friends, right?"

Otogi nodded, but he was looking up at the ceiling and that made me suspicious. He set down his beer and swallowed, making a face that reminded me of someone trying to swallow a spider. In other words, it was an interesting sight. "Yeah..." he said a little breathless after that dramatic swallow.

I breathed in for what seemed to be a long time, thinking back to Otogi and my history as friends. In our years of being friends he hadn't really ever gotten mad at me, not like he got mad at Anzu or at Honda. Actually it's pretty funny when he and Honda fight because its always about the stupidest things. So anyway, I took my bottle of beer and started to twirl it on the table, watching the condensation drops create a ring on the surface from the bottom of the bottle. "And...I can kinda tell you anything, eh?" I said that like I was feeling guilty. I wonder if he noticed.

He shrugged. "Sure." and then he smiled in a compassionate way at me, his green eyes seemed to sparkle almost. "You told me your dad beat you, right?"

...That was true. And I had never told anyone else that. Despite the fact that Otogi only got half of the story there about me and my dad...I had told him that he beat me.

Otogi was a good, true friend. No matter what I dished out at him, I was positive that he wouldn't judge me for it. To both my alarm and my slight excitement, I sucked in a deep breath and muttered the words allowed that I had dreaded for months. The words that I thought would never leave my mouth and that I would only say out loud in the shower.

"...Otogi, I'm gay."

There was a long pause.

"What?" he said, rather lowly.

I nodded, not looking at him, feeling my heart pound in my chest. "Yeah...I'm gay."

And when I looked up at him, his expression for the most part hadn't changed. He frowned and blinked, his eyes widened curiously, like he didn't quite understand what I had just said to him. I wondered for a moment if he didn't hear me. It was awfully loud in the bar.

To my slight horror, his eyes began to shimmer again and he threw his head back and laughed. I felt my heart jump into my throat. When he stopped laughing and only remained with a slight chuckling, tears leaking out of the corner of his hypnotic eyes, he said through the giggling. "You fucking are not."

Oh Gods...

I frowned sadly. I knew I did because I could feel it. Oh shit...fucking shit! I bowed my head and felt my heart stop and my stomach gear up, protesting violently from all the beer I had in my system, despite the fact I had hardly touched my bottle. I could still hear him chuckling...that asshole. How could he laugh when I was trying to tell him something like this? Something serious.

I kept my head down, staring at the table, trying to make sure he couldn't see my eyes through my long bangs. I sighed heavily and nodded again, feeling the music pound mercilessly into my head, making me feel even more sick and shitty than I already was. "It's true..." I murmured, loud enough that he could hear me, but not too loud so I couldn't hear me, if you know what I mean.

There was another pause, and Otogi wasn't laughing anymore. I clenched my eyes closed when I heard him say, in a rather astonished tone. "Gods, you're fucking serious, aren't you?"

I sucked in a deep breath, swallowing constantly to make sure the contents of my stomach didn't rear up into my throat so I might blow chunks all over the bar floor. Things were already bad enough. I felt my eyes sting with tears and clenched my hands into fists.

Otogi slammed his beer bottle on the table top. "Fucking shit!" he spat furiously.

I looked up and tried to think of the words that would make it all better, so that he couldn't push me away. "It doesn't change who I am-"

"You're a fucking FAGGOT! This changes EVERYTHING!" he screamed at me suddenly, fire alighting in his rich eyes. I was suddenly terrified that the entire bar had heard and would drop dead quiet to look at us in wonder of what was going on. But to my fascination and relief no one had turned their head, despite his screaming. I guess the band was playing too loudly. I felt content for a simple second.

Otogi let out a furious sigh and looked down at the table top. "Shit, I can't believe all that time I was standing up for you, defending you, being your friend," he truly sounded disgusted with himself and that made my heart and stomach clench. "You were a fucking faggot all along!"

I was oblivious to the tears that leaked out of the corners of my eyes. I was feeling so sick and so terrible that I just wanted to crawl up somewhere dark and lay there crying until I died of despair. I tried to console his anger. "Otogi, please-"

He stared at me, he seemed to have quieted down and calmed a bit, but he was scowling and his shoulders were heaving up and down. I knew he was seething. "Did your dad ass-rape you?" he snarled with a venomous tone. "Is that how you 'converted'?"

Oh my fucking gods, Otogi! Shut up! Please, just shut up! Don't the FUCK you even mention that!

"Otogi!" that was all I could choke out, and it turned into a sob.

He shook his head very slowly, still staring at me with the disgust written all over his face. I could read it like it had been written in bright blue ink. "Gods...now I know why you didn't like Cookie..." he slammed his fist down on the table and buried his other hand in his black hair. "Fuck, I'm so blind..."

We were quiet for a moment. I tried to gather myself. I demanded myself to stop crying, be a man about this! I straightened out and took in a shuddery breath. "Otogi, I thought I could tell you..." I swallowed down the terrible lump that was in my throat. "I mean, we're friends-"

Otogi whipped his head up and stared at me. For a moment I thought his gaze would stab me to death. His eyes were like daggers, and at the sight of the evident cruelty in them, I wanted to start crying again. "Not anymore, you faggot!" he stood up in such a hurry that his chair fell over, as well as his almost-finished beer. "Go hump Yugi, that's all your kind is good for!" he grabbed his jacket and made to leave.

I stood up in a hurry in an attempt to calm him down. "Otogi-"

He whirled around at me. "Don't EVER come near me AGAIN!"

Otogi disappeared through the crowd of people, and out of my life.

I stood for moments, watching where he had disappeared. In my mind I couldn't hear the music from the band, or the cheering of the fans watching the sports channel, or the mindless chitchat coming from every four corner of the bar. All I could hear inside my head was Otogi's voice, over and over, screaming those terrible things to me. They played out in my head, over and over, and I was powerless to stop it.

"You're a fucking FAGGOT! Don't ever come near me again! I can't believe I was friends with a fucking faggot like YOU!"

Fuck this, I had to get out.

I trudged my way through the crowd, elbowing and pushing, hearing people complaining and swearing at me, but in the end they only assumed I was drunk. My vision was going blurry and I couldn't hear the music or anything in the bar anymore, only the sound of Otogi's voice screaming out his newfound hatred for me.

I found the door to the bar, to my relief and threw it open. It was dark out, and cars were lined up in the parking lot. A little group of guys were standing by one to the far right, smoking a bunch of cigarettes and talking quietly amongst themselves. I could see the lights of the towers of the city, but everything was blurred, and as I tried to walk, all I could see was gray blurriness. Finally I couldn't help it anymore, I bent over and blew chunks into what I thought (and hoped) was just a bunch of shrubs.

I was crying and crying, and the puking emptied my stomach and although I felt a little better, in no time at all it felt like there was a heavy rock in my stomach and in my heart. When my stomach was emptied I staggered back, my hands reaching for a wall. I fell back on my ass onto the concrete. It hurt but I didn't pay much attention.

I sobbed and I sobbed. And I felt so fucking stupid for it. I knew the guys standing by the car must have been laughing at me and making stupid remarks at me. But I didn't care. I didn't care about anything anymore. I just cried. There was a terrible taste in my mouth and my face felt dirty, but I continued to cry, thinking about what Otogi had said, thinking about what I had said to him...

Gods, I'm such a fucking FOOL! I should have known he would have taken this news badly! What the fuck was I thinking? Otogi wouldn't be all right with homosexuality just because I was gay! What the fuck was wrong with me? I must have been drunk or something, because this was really messed! Goddamn it he treats Yugi like shit because he's gay, why hadn't I seen it coming? Why hadn't I predicted that he would turn me away in such a violent manner?

I sat there for a long time, crying, and eventually crying so hard that I puked again. I sat on the curb of the sidewalk and just let myself go. I just cried.

Eventually after awhile I got up and wiped my face off. I started to walk, feeling a bit better now that I had emptied my stomach. I knew I could make it home okay. It was a helluva long walk, but I needed the fresh air, and the time to think.

I shoved my hands into my pockets and took slow steps. Tears kept escaping and running down my hot face in streams, but I didn't care, and I didn't try to stop them. The gross taste in my mouth got more and more worse, but I tried to ignore it. Eventually, and to my great surprise and gratefulness, I found a park with a little fountain.

I went to the fountain and drowned my face in the water. I didn't care how dirty the water was or how gross it was, it felt so fucking good against my tear-burned face. I sighed in content somewhere in my mind and then threw my head back, my bangs wet but feeling more less refreshed. I cupped my hands in the water and threw it over my face, over and over, and then I drank some to swish the disgusting taste from my mouth.

My shirt was soaking wet by the time I left the park and water droplets fell from the tips of my bangs. I didn't care, I felt better now, although totally torn up inside, at least now I was washed up a bit.

I walked and walked, for who knows how long, it seemed like forever. I was a long way from home and didn't have the money for the bus or anything. But it was okay. It was a nice summer night and the summer air was nice against my freshly washed face. My sight wasn't blurry anymore and I could see everything perfectly.

I thought about the scene with Otogi a lot on my walk. Over and over I kept replaying the scene in my head, even against my will. I remember him screaming at me, scowling at me, and leaving in a total rage. The more I thought about it, strangely, the more it seemed to grow less and less off my mind. I knew I would be upset for a long time about this, but at least I wasn't afraid to face the scene again.

Now I was feeling tired. Being sick and crying always makes me feel tired. I forced myself to stay awake, long enough to get home. I couldn't wait to take a long hot shower, and then fall into bed naked with crisp cool sheets and just sleep and sleep for the rest of my days.

Suddenly as my mind cleared I heard something peculiar. Footsteps that imitated mine. Behind me.

I stopped, and the footsteps stopped, and I whirled around in question. I didn't like being followed and I was upset enough to really tell off anyone who was trying to follow or stalk me. And I really didn't need someone following me on the same night I was upset as hell.

Just as I was about to scream at my stalker, I stopped and fell silent.

Seto.

Everything in the world, all my troubles and my dark feelings, all the noises around me, everything just....stopped.

I had forgotten entirely about Seto. I hadn't even thought that if I went home he might have come to see me. During my dark stage less than an hour ago, I didn't even know that Seto existed. And now, and here, the sight of him was overwhelming, like I was a starving man being offered the most wonderfully hot meal. I was quite speechless.

I studied him for a long time. His outfit had changed. Another trench coat, black as midnight, black as pitch, with ridiculously long and pointed collars that framed his head nicely. His expression was motionless and indifferent, but I could see in his eyes there was confusion. Confusion, compassion, and even a little bit of anger.

Blinking, I sniffed, and came to my senses, scowling at him. "What do you want?" I growled at him, relishing in watching his reaction. Chocolate brows arched in surprise, and his eyes became wider and more curious, more surprised and confused. But the rest of his face was very much the same. Perfect, white, and beautiful. But right now even Seto's beauty couldn't make me feel better. I scowled even tighter. "Go away!" I gestured with my arm, and spun on my heel to walk away from him, shoving my hands in my pockets, stomping down the street away from him.

I never would want to push Seto away. I was in love with him, or so I thought, and I was glad that he was there, even for a moment. But my mind was too full of serious things, thinking about Otogi and the scene at the bar, that I couldn't focus on Seto right now. He'd have to come back another night, although I knew he wouldn't like the compromising.

I heard his footsteps behind me. This puzzled me. He was a fucking vampire, why don't he just glide like he does all the time? I don't think I've ever seen him walk like a normal human before. But judging from his footfalls, he sure was walking like one.

I can't imagine how Seto would look right now, walking down the sidewalk. Anyone to go by him would moan in pleasure. He'd be tall and thin, his trench coat swaying with the wind along his liquid strides, his beautiful face frozen with concentration, his eyes glaring and pondering, observant of anything that might come his way.

I looked over my shoulder at him. He stopped and stared at me like he had before, the same expression on his face and the glow of confusion and curiosity in his eyes. I scowled and turned, walking backwards for moments and eventually stopping. "Why are you following me?" I shouted at him furiously, frowning angrily the best I could. "Go the fuck away!"

I didn't even wait for his reaction, I turned and continued my walk down the sidewalk. I wanted to punch myself for telling him to go the fuck away, but I couldn't deal with him right now. I just couldn't!

To my surprise and shock I walked right into something. I jumped back almost as quick as I bumped into it, and stared to observe. Oh, fucking perfect. I had walked directly into Seto, who no doubt, using his vampire speed, raced around in front of me. Shit...

I looked down at the sidewalk to avoid his gaze, pretending to kick a rock while really looking at his feet, because my feet weren't very interesting. I felt tears begin to wall up in my eyes again but I prayed and begged, gods don't let them spill, not here and not in front of Seto. Who knew what he would think of me then, if I showed emotion so bluntly in front of him. I knew exactly what he'd do. He'd scoff, make some terrible remark, and walk away. That's exactly what he'd do.

His hand reached forward and grasped my chin, gently, and raised my head so I would look at him. I didn't fight him. I stared into his blue eyes, those gorgeous blue eyes, and was slightly confused because they portrayed sadness. Something I never thought I would ever see in Seto.

"Puppy..." he said softly, almost inaudibly. It seemed like his lips hadn't even moved.

Slowly I pulled my chin away from his fingers, blinking rapidly and sniffing. Tears were leaking out of my eyes, and I didn't know why! Was I just upset because of what happened with Otogi? Maybe I was afraid of showing my emotion in front of Seto. Shit, it was both.

"Please Seto...just leave me alone..." I begged softly, looking down once again at the chipped concrete, trying to concentrate on something else so I wouldn't have to think about him or Otogi or the bar or anything. There was a piece of gum on the sidewalk. I pondered it. It was pink, so I imagine the flavour was either strawberry or just plain bubble-gum flavour... "Suck on my neck another time, Seto..." I begged him quietly. I clenched my eyes closed as the tears burned my cheeks. "Please..."

He stepped forward. I could feel the flare of his trench coat against my leg. He took my face in both his hands and lifted my head to face him full frontal. As soon as I saw his eyes I closed mine, and tried to bow my head, but it seemed like he wouldn't let me. Gods, I didn't want to see his expression...

"Why are you crying, puppy?" his cool thumbs brushed away the spilled tears, leaving behind a chilled sensation, which was lovely, but it didn't last very long, and I opened my eyes and looked into his.

I felt such love for him. I felt warm and wonderful. I felt safe and secure. Everything, everything that had happened today, all the bullshit that happened with Otogi in the bar...none of it mattered anymore, because Seto was here. Seto was here to take me in his arms and comfort me. He wasn't going to leave me alone, and he sought out to find me because he must have known I was sad. Perhaps he had seen the entire explosion between me and Otogi and followed me to comfort me. Oh gods Seto, I could never push you away!

I reached up with my hands and covered his, easing the tiniest smile, a sad smile, and my eyes filled once again with tears, tears of happiness. I didn't see his expression as I leaned forward, pressing my face into his firm chest. "Seto..." I whimpered.

He froze for a moment and I started to sob. His arms hung loosely at his sides and he was still, like he was wondering if he should comfort me or push me away. I wished and hoped with all my heart that he wouldn't push me away. I couldn't handle two rejections in the same night. I'd go home and kill myself.

Seto remained frozen, and I was upset again. It felt like I could read his thoughts. He didn't know if he liked this, if he enjoyed having a mortal this close to him, pouring his little human heart out and onto his expensive black clothes. I almost felt like I could feel his expression twist in mental disgust. I was waiting for his arms to come up and shove me away and into the wall, and then tear out my throat and leave my mutilated corpse rotting on the sidewalk so someone might find it early the next morning. But I didn't care. After tonight anything, even death, sounded reasonable. Besides that's all I was to him. Food. He came and snacked on me, and sooner or later he would kill me. Might as well be now, so I wouldn't have to drag out the suffering. Go ahead Seto, my love. I'm ready to die.

He wrapped his arms around me. Rather shocked, I tensed and then relaxed. His arms were warm and heated my body even if just by the slightest. His chin rested atop my blonde locks. I couldn't tell what he was thinking. But all I was thinking was, _Thank you. Thank you Seto, my love. Thank you for understanding. Thank you for letting me have this!_

We stayed embraced like this for moments. I let out a deep contented sigh and my tears stopped. My mind was at a standstill. Everything in the world was okay now, as long as he held me in his arms. Everything Otogi said back in the bar, every terrible word, every burning glare of his those eyes...and the sickness and torment I felt afterwards...it just melted away. I buried my face in his chest, rubbing my nose, feeling almost a little playful. I swear I could feel him smile. Even if it was just inside.

After what seemed like eternity, although it wasn't nearly enough time, he hoisted me up in his arms. I wrapped my arms around his neck and laid my head on his shoulder, curling my legs around his hips. I sighed deeply and closed my eyes, breathing in his intoxicating smell that was so uniquely him. He began to walk down the sidewalk in the direction of my apartment, walking like a human, and not fast like a vampire, carrying me like I was a sleepy child. My fingers clutched and clawed his clothes and I held onto him tightly, feeling affectionate and marvelous and saved.

His fingers came and curled themselves in my hair, to calm me. I relaxed.

"Shh..." he cooed. "Just go to sleep, puppy."

I closed my eyes, letting all troubled thoughts and worries flow freely out of my mind like water, and I let this beautiful dark man carry me away.

A/N: I am sorry about the wait! I had a hard time getting this chapter written. Anyway I hope it made up for the wait. How about that scene with Otogi? Heart-breaking, eh? But I couldn't let Jou walk away without a little happiness. - Hope you enjoyed this one. Next chapter will be out soon, I promise!


	11. Chapter Ten

I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh

Chapter Ten 

All right! That's it! I've had enough! "Sophomore" biology can just fuck me up the ass!

Breaking down and studying for the school finals wasn't exactly as easy as I thought it might be, yes, there I admit it! I had three of them that I had to study for, that included feudal Japanese history, language skills, and this shitty biology course, which I'm beginning to doubt was even on my schedule. I didn't know half of the things that were in this review booklet!

The living room was silent. When I glanced up at the little clock sitting on a nearby end table I saw that it was approaching 7:30 pm. Geez, it wasn't even near quitting time. I made a vow to myself that through this week I would get up for eleven in the am and study the three different subjects for periods of time until ten at night, while taking two or three minor breaks in-between of approximately fifteen minutes.

How did I have the will power to do this? Although it wasn't easy, it certainly wasn't very hard. I didn't have a job yet (I planned to go out job searching once my exams were over), and I didn't really have any friends to go out partying with, not after what happened last week with Otogi. So for the most part I was rather bored, and I had nothing better to do than study for these damn tests.

Had it been a week already? Almost, since what happened in the bar with Otogi. It takes an awful lot of power not to break down when thinking back to it, so I won't refresh what happened with you, I'm sure you remember clearly what was said and done. I haven't seen Otogi since, nor have I talked to him on the telephone. It was probably for the best. I knew he wasn't planning to accept me any time soon. That goes double for Honda. I haven't spoken to him since…forever, it seems. And he won't talk to me now, I'm sure Otogi went and told him everything that happened.

I sighed and set down my pencil. Time for another small break, all this studying and reviewing was getting me hungry. The rest of the apartment was pretty dark. I was trying to save a few bucks on the lights, my rent was still due for June but I couldn't get it until I found a job. Thank gods my landlady is so understanding (although I think she also might have some memory problems). Sometimes I'm rather surprised she remembers my name.

The fridge for the most part was empty, but there were some leftover noodles in there from the other night, so I decided to eat those. I shoveled some chopsticks out of the cutlery drawer and shuffled into the living room once again, thinking to turn on the television, but knowing if I got suckered in, I wouldn't be able to get back to studying for the rest of the evening, and I still had two hours or so to go before I could turn in.

I flopped down onto once of the armchairs and began to eat the cold noodles, slippery with too much dressing, but it tasted fresh and new and delicious, so I made no complaints. I found myself staring at my open book of biology, that damned biology, but other things began to come to my mind.

I thought back to the night with Otogi. Not so much what happened with Otogi, but what happened afterwards, when I was walking home. Even now when I think about it, it seems like it never happened and I read about it in a book or saw it on a movie or something. When Seto came and took me home.

I can't sum up all the time I've spent thinking about this, pondering and daydreaming and wondering and thinking. Every time I thought about it, it seemed to get less and less real to me, but at the same time more and more wonderful.

Seto carried me home that night, after finding me trying to walk my way home from the city center. I remember the cold look in his azure eyes, like he believed me to be a mad man, like he was positive I had gone off my mind. I think he had been even more surprised when I started to yell at him and tell him to go away and leave me alone. As I recall I was so upset from what happened with Otogi that I was instantly furious when I saw him following me. I don't know why exactly…

When he brushed away my fallen tears, sadness overwhelmed me, but also a great happiness. I can't explain it really. I was so happy that he was there to comfort me, but at the same time I didn't want him to see me like this, I didn't want him to know that I could break down so easily. I didn't think he'd understand if I told him what happened with Otogi at the bar, so I didn't tell him.

Seto picked me up, I remember, and carried me home, slowly, walking like a human being, and not using the super vampire speed I had witnessed him use so many times before. He walked slowly, taking long strides over the sidewalk blocks, carrying me like I was a tortured soul, holding onto me protectively, fingers curling in my hair to calm me.

I was like a child he had found wandering the street. I was all at once just a tiny soul who wasn't sure where his next meal was coming from. I was sad and orphaned and unloved. But he found me as I was crying and picked me up easily, without a second thought, without a second glance, and took me away with him in the night, holding onto me like I was his child, like he wanted me, and wasn't going to let anyone else have me.

As we walked I fell asleep, and woke up again just as Seto was carrying me down the hall to my bedroom. I curled my body into him, not wanting him to let me go, not now for the life of me, when he had come to my rescue when I needed him the most.

He put me down in my bed and removed my socks and shoes. I don't remember if he removed my shirt or pants or anything, but I remember feeling chilled all over, until slim white fingers moved the comforter over my legs, torso and chest. I stared up at him, into his cool cerulean pools that mirrored what seemed to be his every thought and feeling. All at once he didn't seem like a vampire at all. No, he simply looked too human to be one. He was something completely different.

I thought I heard him murmur words to me, but I didn't hear them. I felt his cool touch on my cheeks that had burned from tears. I wondered suddenly why he was being so nice, why he was suddenly being so caring. It seemed completely unlike him.

He was leaning over me and I leaned up to kiss him. I captured his lips in a passionate lock, closing my eyes and letting my mind go completely blank. I thought of nothing else, nothing but the feel of his smooth, tasty lips against mine, of his gentle movements and how my hand somehow found his cheek, how my fingers began to slither their way into his hair.

I felt him shiver beneath my touch, or was that me? I couldn't tell anymore what was going on around us. Nothing in the world mattered right now. Only he mattered.

I wanted him. Oh gods how I wanted him.

I wanted his kisses and his coy touches. I wanted them all over me, over my neck and jaw especially, his lips caressing as his fingers slid over my skin, exploring, teasing. I wanted him to climb up overtop of me and continue his kisses and his touches on his skin. And I…I wanted to move my shaking fingers to the buttons of his midnight trench coat and throw the nimble garment off his shoulders and watch it slip to the floor. I wanted to nuzzle him, I wanted to cuddle him, I want to lie with him in my bed, naked and free. I ached for him, for his touch, I wanted him to taste me, to suckle me gently, and then to fill me, to push himself into me and release his lust into me. I wanted him to make me scream in pleasure and call his name with all the volume my voice could contain. I wanted him to show me the pearly white semen that coated his fingers, and I wanted him to show me how it tasted, how I tasted to him. And then I wanted him to lie beside me and take me into his arms. I wanted him to assure me that everything would be okay. I wanted him to be with me forever and ever. I wanted him to hold onto me for eternity and never let me go.

When Seto broke the kiss, his eyes were wide and accusing. He stared at me like I had done something terrible, like I had murdered myself right in front of him. I stared at him, scowling in confusion, wondering what I had done. Was he thrown off by the kiss? Did he not like it? He kissed me all the time and I returned them, why would he suddenly freeze at this one, this one kiss where I took control?

He stared at me for a long time. I don't remember what time it was when I finally closed my eyes and fell back into the pillows and comforters. I don't remember what he did, whether he left without question, or if he stayed and watch me sleep.

I reached in with my chopsticks for more noodles, and then found that the container was empty. Damn. I got up to throw it away and wash out the chopsticks.

Seto and I didn't talk about that night again. Since that night he's visited me twice, once was for blood, and I don't really know why he came the second time. He's never mentioned it. I often think about it but I don't dare to bring up the topic with him. I know that if it had disturbed him in any way, he would be glad to kill me if I were ever to remind him of it.

When I walked back into the living room, I stopped at the doorway and scowled. Where the hell is my biology book? I was certain I left it right there on the coffee tabl-

Oh. Something not quite like relief washed over me when I spotted Seto sitting on the sofa near the coffee table. He was holding open the book and flipping the pages every now and then. I smiled. It was adorable watching him read, I loved the way his eyes never seemed to move even though I could tell he was reading every single written word on the page. I loved how his eyebrows would move up and then down every now and then in interest, and how his fingers would flip the pages absent-mindedly, like he was looking at a picture book among all other things.

I sauntered over to the sofa where he was sitting. "Maybe you should be taking this exam." I said.

He turned another page, ignoring me. I wondered if he even knew I was there.

I flopped down beside him and rested my head on his shoulder, looking at the book as he read it. I breathed in his intoxicating smell and pulled my knees up to press myself into him almost completely. I don't think I was even looking at the words at all.

"The exam's in two days," I told him, resting my chin on his shoulder. "I should really get back to studying."

Although I wouldn't mind if Seto had other things in mind, even if it was drinking. I wouldn't mind blowing everything off for him.

He made an amused sound in his throat and closed the textbook, handing it to me gently. I took it silently and slid off the sofa, going to crouch down in front of the coffee table where my review booklet was. I picked up my pencil and set back to work.

It was interesting…it was almost as if I could sense Seto was slowly getting more and more frustrated, getting more irritated. I guess he really hates being ignored. I looked over at him, about to speak to him, but his gaze was turned to the window. He was staring out at the dark sky. Or maybe he wasn't. Maybe he was just pretending like he was.

I leaned on my fist and stared at him curiously. I don't understand what he's doing. He's staring, he's still, he's not speaking.

The light was low in the room, but something suddenly caught my eye. His skin…it wasn't the usual snowy white that it was in the nights he came to feed on me. It's usually very visible along his neck and cheekbones. But now…they looked flustered and…a healthy pink.

…He'd fed already. That had to be it.

I scowled. If he had fed already, what was he doing here? I wasn't necessarily complaining, I loved to see him day after day, but if he wasn't going to feed on me, why was he here? Why did he keep coming here if he didn't feed on me every time?

Almost as if he sensed my sharp annoyance, he turned in a smooth swan motion and looked at me. There was the fire alight in his eyes, the great glow of the single burning flame in the eternal darkness. A brow rose as if he asked me mentally what was wrong.

I put down my pencil and continued to glare at him, although it had softened considerably. I didn't want him to get mad. "Why do you keep coming here?" I asked in an almost accusing tone.

His eyes narrowed to me. It made me shiver but I was especially careful not to let him see. I sucked in a breath and held my gaze with him. The muscles in his face began to etch, as though he was completely confused as to my question.

"You never feed from me anymore," I told him, standing up to my feet. "And you always feed before coming here." He frowned deeply and was about to say something but I was quick in interrupting him. "Yeah, I can tell the difference from when you've fed and when you haven't! You don't spend a few weeks with a vampire sucking on your neck and not know. I mean I'm stupid, but I'm not that stupid-"

"Why are you angry?" he hissed at me. I could feel the venom in his tone, and I watched how he crossed his legs. He was beginning to feel cornered, he was becoming cross. His eyes seemed to flare with that ghostly vampire flame and stared at me with something like hatred.

Was I angry? I don't know. I felt angry, but somehow in my mind I wasn't convinced that I really was. For some reason I wanted him to be furious. I don't know why. Maybe it was become I was suddenly feeling used…or…I can't explain it. I was just confused as to why he would sometimes act like he cared about me and then come to my apartment and ignore me, and then look as though it's a burden to him. He's a fucking vampire, he could get up and disappear at any time he liked and I'd never see him again. He wouldn't care. Why was he doing all this?

As though he had read my mind, and I had no doubts that he did, Seto stood up elegantly, towering like the forbidding shadow he was. His eyes were livid. "I feed on what I want when I want, your blood isn't the most gourmet."

Ouch, that hurt. "Well then why do you keep coming back here? Why did you keep making me feel that for some stupid reason this 'relationship' is going anywhere?" I was shouting without realizing it. My voice carried up through the walls of the room and back at me. He took a step back, but his eyes had gone as cold and furious, as I had never seen them.

" 'Relationship'?" he spat directly. " Vampires don't have relationships with their food, they eat it!" Now he too was shouting. "I come back here night after night because I know I'm one of the only things that makes you happy! Why not give a pathetic puppy like you a few nice things to remember before his miserable life comes to an end?"

I opened my mouth and then closed it. Suddenly I wasn't angry anymore. Hurt began to flood over my being. So…the truth comes out. He's never cared about me, not like I care about him, not like I love him. Tears were building up in my eyes but I told myself that if I let them spill I would throw myself on a knife. I would not look weak. Not now, not in front of Seto.

I sniffed and struggled to keep the tears back. I stared down at my feet. "Fine." I said slowly. "Fine, yeah, you're right…give me a few nice things to remember before I die, what the fuck do I care?" suddenly it hits me. I stare up at him intensely. "I mean…You're the one who's going to kill me, right?"

His eyes widen a bit and the fury in his face was gone instantly, left with only a great confusion. He stared at me in horror, as though he was asking with my eyes how on earth did I know that.

I nodded. "You know what, go ahead and kill me." I urged him. "Go the fuck ahead." I was furious again. "At least knowing you and dying is merciful. I'd rather that than knowing you and living, knowing I'll never see you again."

I wiped the tears from my eyes. "Gods Seto, do you do this to all your pets? You son-of-a-bitch, did you make me fall in love with you just so you could get up and disappear?"

This was too much. Everything he had done in the past…everything seemingly romantic and thoughtful he had done…it was all for nothing now. Who knows why he did it. I don't know. I don't know anything anymore.

"Bite me." Did I say that in my head or out loud? "Bite me and kill me. You know you want to. Just do it."

There was a long, dreaded pause between us. One of those moments where the air seems peculiarly eerie. Where the light in the room is ghostly. Where the sounds of breathing seems to be the only thing heard. There is a single shadow passed between us, a single moment where neither of us knows what will happen next.

Seto is unusually still. I can't tell what he's thinking. I don't want to know what he's thinking. I know he must be contemplating. He must be thinking about all of this. He must be wondering if he really wants to kill me here and now. He doesn't know. He's not sure of anything anymore.

Gracefully he turned, all of a sudden, and began to walk down the hallway in the direction of my bedroom. I watched him as he walked away from me, tears spilling from my eyes, the hurt and hatred on my face must have been evident. I knew of his coldness as I stared at the back of his head, mesmerized by the way he walked away from me. Like he was walking away and out of my life.

He stopped in front of my bedroom door, and his eyes turned to me. They glowed the magnanimous sapphire as ever before, they seemed bright in the darkness. His voice was expressionless; his lips were curled tight into a thin line. He gave me a firm look, as if to say, "come here".

I shoved my hands in my pockets and stared at the floor, walking to where he stood, feeling dreadful all over. I was walking into my doom, I felt like a prisoner, walking to the guillotine, awaiting the harsh crunch of the blade and the fierce cold hands of the man in the black mask.

When I reached him he took my wrist and dragged me into my bedroom, tossing me sideways onto my bed, so I nearly hit my head on the bedside table. I laid down and sniffed loudly before I felt his frosty hands removing articles of clothing, every single piece that I had put on that morning. I shut my eyes tightly as he removed my jeans and then my boxers in an agonizingly slow motion. I don't know why I let him do it. Something in my mind reminded me that he was here to kill me, and that was what he was going to do. He was going to kill me.

And yet why was I naked? Was he going to rape me too? Make sure that I felt pain as I died? I felt cold all over, wanting to curl up into a ball and warm myself, or dive into a steaming hot shower.

A body climbed over me. It was cold and senseless. Fingers touched my skin all over. My eyes clenched shut as the foul smell of death began to intoxicate me. The smell I once had called Seto's scent.

He began to stroke my bangs. I relaxed into the touch and tried to distract myself from the sickly feeling that rose in my stomach. I felt his nose drag up along my collarbone and neck as he took in a deep breath of satisfaction. He could smell my blood, he could smell what he wanted, and in a matter of seconds he would have it.

I remained completely still. I had stopped crying. Do it, Seto. Kill me. Somehow deep inside I knew you were going to do it anyway. Just do it now.

His lips brushed over mine in a sweeping motion. I wanted to believe he was going to make love to me, but I know he's just playing with his food. I swallowed tightly and didn't return his kiss. I was too frightened to.

The tender caress of his lips slid down over my jaw and to my neck. I knew this scenario, I had encountered it many times before. I felt his lips numb me, his fingers in my hair, curling in-between long digits, his other hand for some strange reason, brushing over my groin, making me flinch and shiver in mild pleasure. His fangs poked my skin. I readied myself. I told myself that today was a good day to die.

Today was a good day to die.

What could I say to him as my last words? That I loved him? He already knew that.

Today was a good day to die.

His fangs plunged into my skin. Pain flooded to the four corners of my body. My eyes popped open and my mouth formed a surprised O. I began shaking furiously, wanting to throw him off me, but he held me still with his vampire strength. I was helpless to move.

He began to drink from me. I could hear the small suckling noises of his feeding. All of a sudden it began to feel blissful, like it always had. It felt soft and almost romantic in a way. He touched me again I flinched again. I shut my eyes and relished in this new feeling. This feeling of blissful death and being touched by the one you love at the same time. A good way to die.

I felt incredibly weak, weaker than ever before. I couldn't even move my fingers or have much strength to open my eyes. When I did however all I could see was the blackness of the room about me. I couldn't even tell if Seto was really there anymore or not. The blissful feeling left, and I knew that I was drained. Any minute now, I would die.

But then…what was this? Something warm touched my lip. It almost seemed to…splatter, like it had fallen from a great height. With what strength I had I forced my tongue from my lips and tasted this foreign substance.

The moment my tongue touched it, the moment my taste buds had a whiff of it, my entire body wanted, needed more. I struggled to lick it up, but my strength was failing me. I delighted in feeling more, more drops of this substance, one two three four, fall against my lips and my teeth. I licked them away, swallowed them up, relishing in the wondrous taste of it. My lips shook, as I wanted to demand for more of it, before miraculously an entire gush of it had flown into my lips.

My senses were on an overload. I drank this gush as soon as it touched my tongue. I forced myself to grab this thing in front of my mouth to hold it in place as I drank. More and more I could feel my strength returning to me, suddenly and in large quantities, to the point where I could sit up , and my eyes opened, and everything around me seemed to burn and glow brightly. I had never experienced anything like it.

This substance was stolen from me, almost as easily as it had been given. I recognized the taste now. The bitter metallic taste that suddenly tasted sweeter than sugar. I grinned beside myself, feeling drunk of this substance. Drunk of blood.

I can hear a voice over my own gothic voices. "Katsuya…" There was a cold touch on my cheek. A hand. His hand, and his voice. "I never had any intention of letting you go."

I knew. I just knew, suddenly, what had happened, and what was going to happen from now on.

Suddenly pain began to burn inside my body. It started with my stomach and worked its way up through my chest and down through my legs. It was a pain so terrible that suddenly I heard screaming, my screaming, screaming that came from me, from all around me. I twisted and turned and felt the pain flood through every vessel in my body. Everything felt like burning. I felt on fire.

I couldn't say I was angry. At the time I had no comprehension of what such a thing was. My mind was clouded with thoughts and voices that I tried to still but could not. The pain was fiercer now, more terrible, more vicious.

I screamed and I screamed and I screamed. I had thrown myself from the bed and began shaking all over, trying to grab something but not being able to feel it.

Pain. Pain. Nothing but the pain.

I opened my eyes and I could see nothing. Everything was too bright and it hurt so much. Everything I touched seemed to just burn. There was a fire on my body, and I could not put it out.

And suddenly I was furious. But I was not furious. I was curious.

My voice rose over and over through the walls of the building. My screams of pain.

And my thoughts of Seto…

Seto…

What have you done to me?

The screams and the pain.

Seto, what have you done to me!

A/N: Well, you have just witnessed the turning point in this story's plot. I worked extra hard to get this chapter done in time for Christmas. I hope you enjoyed it. The next chapter will be out in the New Year, and we shall see what has become of Jou.

Until then …Merry Christmas!


	12. Chapter Eleven

_I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh_

Chihiro: Part I

Chapter Eleven

* * *

Every story has to have a turning point. I suppose you could call this a turning point in my story. At least…one of the turning points. It was the significant transition I made from the world of the living to the realm of the dead.

I don't recommend it either. Seriously. It's very painful.

When I woke up, it was as if I had been hit in the head with a brick. Suddenly I was aware of nothing. Nothing but the fact that something about me had definitely changed. I awoke to find myself motionless, stripped of strength, unable to understand why I was on the floor, why I was naked. My stomach ached, I had a horrible headache. There was a disgusting taste in the back of my mouth, something I could only describe as a rusted metallic taste.

I laid on my back on the floor of my bedroom all day, watching as a beam of sun moved across the walls of my room. I was mesmerized by the constant changing of the red numbers on my digital clock, staring at it as the hours slowly went by, as though I had never seen it before. When I had the strength to stand (with much help from the bedside table and the bed frame), I struggled to keep on my feet, only to fall forward and into my bed. Oh…my bed felt wonderful to my broken body. The sheets were clean and cool, crisp and comfortable. I struggled to curl myself under them, and I fell asleep for a long, long time.

I can't remember if it was the next night or the night after that, but suddenly I was feeling better than ever.

When I rose from my bed, it was night. I went into the bathroom to splash water on my face, and paused awkwardly as I stared at someone…someone I was positive I knew…but it was almost like I had never seen them before.

I could recognize this face, but I couldn't fit a name to it. There were things that were strange about it, things I didn't remember, things that were strangely different, like his skin, and how it was now a milky white instead of a creamy tan. And the blond locks, how they glimmered like sunlight under the bathroom light-bulb, and the eyes…golden brown eyes that glowed and stared like…a jungle cat lunging for the kill…

I reached up and touched the face…only to discover that it was my own. But…how had I changed so much? I decided I must have been very ill and over the few days that I had slept, these things had happened to me. But it was so strange…

Turning on the hot water, I climbed into the shower and leaned against the wall, closing my eyes and enduring the warmth. There was something about the water, how it felt more than warm and cleansing, how it seemed to tingle every inch of my skin, how I absorbed the heat from the water.

When I got out of my shower I squeezed my eyes shut and rubbed my temples. I was extremely confused…The last thing I remembered…I didn't know. I didn't remember anything that happened even the last time I was awake. I just remember pain…and sleep. There wasn't anything else I could remember.

When I turned on my radio I had a shocking discovery. According to the DJ on the station it was the 29th...

That couldn't have been right. Last I had known it was...the 26th, and school had just gotten out.

And my exam was...was...the 28th...

...Yesterday...

I had an overwhelming urge to vomit onto the floor, but there was nothing in my stomach so all I could do was bend over and gag. The horrible dreadful feeling arose in my stomach and up trhough my body and into my mind, where my head was swimming with thoughts and confusion. I had missed the test...I had missed the test...

No, why? Why was this happening to me? What had I done? What had I possibly done wrong to be earn this?

I collapsed on my bed, it was the only thing that offered me comfort. I curled into the sheets, naked, grabbing my pillow and holding it to my face. I wasn't tired but all of a sudden I just felt drained and empty, like everything in my body had just been sucked out by some oversized parasite, and the sadness had flooded my entire being, soaking into the depths of my bones.

There was wetness on my pillow, and I was crying. I was crying because I didn't understand what was happening. I was crying because I had missed my biology final. Crying because slept for days and woke up feeling different. Crying because I felt so dazed and lost...

What had happened?

There was an incredible instinct that grew in me to go out straight away and get wasted. And that was exactly what I did. I clothed slowly and clumsily and sauntered out of my apartment. It was dark out and I was grateful...due to all the sleeping I had done I had no mind whatsoever to deal with the harsh rays of sunlight.

As I walked I began to notice things...to anyone they would seem minor but to me they made me stop and think.

All over I could hear sounds, this way and that, as though they surrounded me and I couldn't escape them. I heard dogs barking and cats meowing. I could hear the screaming of a baby and the argument of a forlorn souple. As I walked past the playground I looked at the forboding sight, the happiness drowned in a sea of midnight, but all I could hear was the sounds of children laughing, screaming, talking to each other, playing games, and of the parents calling to them and telling them to be careful...

I stopped and stared at the playground as though there were someone there, and there was. It seemed as though souls of children were playing on that playground now and I couldn't see them...but I could hear them...

I rushed past the playground as quick as I could, still hearing every single little thing in all four corners of my ears. I closed my ears with the palms of my hands and stared down at my feet walking with an urgency that I didn't quite understand, moving with a grace I knew I could never possess. My eyes searched the street and things began to move. The lights were brighter and sharper, the night all around was cascading and beautiful. I could hear the wind, I could smell everything, from the food in the shops to the garbage in the trash cans.

And then there was something else...a scent I had never known before, but obsessed with immediately. A sweet smell that was intoxicating and deliberate.

I turned this way and that, my mouth watering, my eyes wide, my mind sharp! I could smell this substance and I was running as fast as I could, like the wind it seemed, to this source.

I stopped at the edge of the park, where the river met the bank. Sitting on a bench were a couple, a boy and a girl, kissing sweetly and shyly, as though they were on their first date. I watched the back of their heads for moment as they kissed under the moon and at the river's side.

Something about this seemed picture perfect...and for some reason I hated it! I wanted it to end!

I approached the bench, running with the speed I had no control over, and this scent became so powerful that it was driving me insane. I felt something grow inside of me, a sort of animalism, I felt as though my teeth were sharp and I had grown claws, and I was some sort of predator that was running in for the kill.

I reached the bench and flew over it like some crazed jumping beast. I heard the girl scream and the boy was screaming profanities. I landed on my feet, grounding into the dirt with my fingers to stop myself. I turned my eyes on them and suddenly the urge to destroy, to slaughter, to kill was more powerful than anything in my mind.

Without warning I turned on both my heels and made went into a fast run in the direction of the girl. But the guy had spun in front of her, knocking her to the side onto the grass, and so I sank my dirty fingers into his chest and heard him scream in pain. Without further warning I bent forward and clamped my mouth onto his neck.

I could smell it, I wanted it so bad...I could almost taste it! And when I pulled my mouth from his neck there came with me a chunk of his throat. He was twitching and his eyes were wide open, his mouth hanging but no sound escaped. The girl was screaming over and over, louder and fiercer, calling the boy's name but he wouldn't respond, and he would never respond again.

It was then that I saw it, as I tore away his throat...the sacred substance that I had smelled and that I hungered for.

Trouble was that it had all spurted once I had mutated his throat, and now he was empty. I tried to redeem the spilled juice from his wound but it was cold and unappetizing. I threw away his body in a rage, and my animal instinct searched the darkness for his mate, the one that had screamed and the one he had died trying to protect.

She was sitting on the grass staring at me, her eyes wide and streaming with tears. If I wasn't so thirsty I would have let her go, but I walked forward, controling my speed even though it threatened to break out. She cowered and cried when I approached her and curled into a ball, but I took a fist full of her hair and she was screaming again. I pulled her to her feet, she was shorter than me, and I threw her up against the nearest tree. She was crying hard, not screaming anymore, like she knew what was coming and knew nothing could prevent it.

I locked her between myself and the tree. A part of me wanted to tease her and confuse her, rub my body up against her own and make her moan before I make her sleep. There was this want to play...to make her think I was going to rape her.

And I did. I stared at her but she wouldn't look at me. I pressed myself against her and she whimpered. My groin began to pulse as the thought of shoving myself inside of her and hearing her scream came over my mind powerfully. For some reason all I wanted was for her to feel pain, to scream and cry and be scarred, and want it all to end.

I thrust my groin into her, what you may call "dry humping", and she hiccuped. Her tears smelt salty and her blood smelt beautiful. I wanted to touch her but I had to hold my place and make sure she didn't get away. I thrust at her again, and I moaned, and I laughed, and I heard her crying softly.

Was it in some sort of daze, or was it purely on sadistic purpose, I'll never know, but suddenly all I could understand was that I was tearing away her blouse and she was screaming and turned her head to the side so she wouldn't look at me. My hands were beautiful forcing apart the silken cloth, and the sounds of the tearing made me grin. I took her shoulders and threw her down upon the grass, her blouse laid in shreds, and I jumped down and laid myself over top of her, my arousal in direct line with her womanhood. Without warning I slowly pulled down her skirt to her mid-thighs and stared at her in nothing but her undergarments.

She was whimpering when I began to touch her. When I began to run my flat palms up her stomach and down her sides, over her perky breasts and inner thighs. When my fingers brushed her panties she bucked and gasped, and I felt that now I was finally getting to what I wanted. She was being pleasured and I was going to kill her.

I slid down her panties, and then removed her bra. Suddenly she was nothing but a creamy form of loveliness, of purity and tranquility. She was perfect and milky, truly beautiful. I could hear her heart pounding and she was trying not to cry anymore, as if she changed her mind about wanting to enjoy my intentions.

I stared at her for what seemed to be hours. She was a dawny brightness in this dark secluded world of mine. It was almost harsh to look at her. Her body was perfect but it infuriated me. Inside me there was a pulsing need to end her life right there and then.

Something in my mind clicked as I wrapped my arms around her and lifted her to my chest. I would have looked as though I was trying to calm her down, comfort her, and I could hear her sigh almost in relief. She wouldn't move, her arms were dead weight and her head bowed as though her neck had broken. I could smell her blood and it was heavenly.

But I knew. Instead of ripping her throat I knew I had to pace myself, and take her slowly. Unlike her misfortuned fellow decaying on the grass over there (I'm sure her eyes were fixed on him), I had to be devious and drink from her slowly.

Gently I tilted her head to the side. Her round gray eyes stared at me in horror, and when I looked into them all I could see was fear. And I loved it.

I ran my fingertip over her bottom lip and marveled at how perfect her skin was. I wanted to see it broken, and so without warning I growled, and my mind made a fantastic twist! My teeth expanded and a redness clouded my eyes, and I dove into her creamy neck and heard her gasp.

I hit a vein, and automatically my teeth retracted and I latched myself to the punctures and drank. Her blood gushed onto my tongue and down my throat. My eyes widened and my mind was screaming in delight. My entire body reacted to this taste, to this sample. I held her tightly and heard her whimper. My fingernails dug into her arm and side and my bite all at once had become much more sinful, much more painful.

All of a sudden...as I drank down her fluid and emptied her, I could see images. They flashed over my eyes like I was watching a television screen. It was amazing, truly. All I could see was the girl, the girl and what must have been her happy life. I saw her at a young age wearing a pink dress with pigtails in her hair. She was at a birthday party, her own birthday party, where she recieved plastic horses with glitter in their hair and colouring books of Barbie and past Disney movies. I saw her as a nine-year-old, stealing away to the garage of a male friend's house, where they played "Doctor" in the darkness and giggled together. I saw her cheating on a test in junior high and felt the emotion she felt when her first boyfriend broke up with her, and when she had made the cheerleading team I could feel her happiness and watched her twirl in her skirt and throw her baton. I watched further on and on, inevitably finding the memories of her father dying of cancer, of her brother being accepted to an important school in England, and lastly to her acceptance of a marriage proposal from the boy that was lying no more then six feet away from me with his throat torn out...

Her heart stopped.

I released her, and I watched her gray, dead body fall like a rock onto the grass, and I stared at her in horror. My system with satisfied with her blood, her mind was reeling over how wonderful it had all felt, how the kill and the meal was perfect all around.

But my heart...as I stared at the girl, and remembered her mirage of memories, the good and the bad...something terrible came over me.

I found that I was crying...tears were running down my cheeks. I struggled to my feet and stared down her. She was naked and gray, like a slab of stone that was chipped into the perfect image of a young woman. Her expression was sad and her eyes were empty, like glass without a need for reflection.

I was crying. Hard. As I sobbed I ran, I ran away from her and from the boy that lay not too far from her. Oh gods I had killed them...I had killed them both! Why?

They were going to get married...they were innocents, they were in love...they were going to get married and I murdered them both savagely! I tore open his throat and let him die in pain, and made her fearful as I took her life from her. Those memories were my punishment. No doubt about it.

My lips were shaking and I was crying, and I ran through the dark as fast as I could, not caring at how everything seemed to zoom about me in a blurry gust. I was crying and I felt terrible...I felt the need to rip out my heart and make sure I die. I deserved it...after what I had done.

I had to go home. I had to go home and try to figure this out. So I turned myself in the direction of my apartment and once again ran as fast as I could.

What had I done? What had I done?

And Seto...what had you done to me? What have you done to me?

My apartment was in view, and at no time at all I threw open the door and found myself in the darkness of my living room. I slammed the door shut and fell back against it. My tears were streaming and my heart felt heavy. I pulled my knees up and buried my face in my hands. Gods what had I done? What had I become?

Inside me came the questions...Seto...Seto what have you done to me? What have you done to make me this way? And why?

All around me came a cascading wave of disturbing sounds. I could hear them both scream all around me, or was it inside me? Was it inside my head? And I could hear her crying when I murdered her financee.

My hands buried themselves in my hair as though forcing me to pull it all out in my frustration and sadness. The screams and what sounded like me in my animalistic fury, like a predator closing in for the kill upon a weakened, frightened, helpless prey...

And footsteps...

Footsteps thundered all around me, inside my head and outside. A wave of a certain scent hit my nostrils and alerted each of my senses. I stilled for a moment, I felt like I was shaking. I raised my eyes and searched the darkness, but my tears had clouded my gaze.

When the tears splashed away I was greeted with a pair of sapphire blues that had made themselves very, very familiar to me. I wanted to scowl but I didn't dare. I wanted to scream but my throat was so dry. I felt my fists clench and unclench, and a knot twist and turn in my stomach.

Seto stood there, in my living room just a few yards away. He was dark, as he always was, his clothes were black as midnight and his hair melted into the dark air. But his face and his eyes, so luminent that you could see them even if you were blind. The sapphire eyes, for what seemed to be only a moment, were filled with a kind of sadness. A kind of unwanted remorse.

"Seto..." I murmured, but it came out as a sort of growl, an unwelcome snarl. But I had never intended it to be. If nothing else I was happy to see him...but there was a sort of horror that flooded over me...a realization at what had happened a few nights ago when he had last been here.

I struggled to stand to my feet, and he watched me. Concern was written on his features but I guess I overlooked them. I stared at him with my eyes wide and my lips trembling. I wanted to do so many things. I wanted to hug him and feel him wrap me in his warmth and power. I wanted to strike him and be furious with him for gods knows what reason. But I did neither, and all I did was look at him like a lost child.

He took a step forward, his eyes were brighter as they moved. "Puppy..." he murmured, barely audible, but it felt so wonderful to hear him say as much.

I don't know what happened, but in a second I found myself within his arms and it was a feeling warmer than anything I had ever experienced before. He gripped me tightly, more than he had ever done in the past, like he was truly happy to see me, or he was trying to suffocate me. I felt his hands go up and wove themselves in my hair, and I pressed myself into him, soaking up his warmth, cherishing this undead embrace.

"Oh gods Seto...what have you done to me?" I whispered, and now I wasn't angry. I didn't feel angry with him anymore.

He seemed to hold me tighter, and pressed his cheek against my hair. "Shh...Jou. I've given you...a new life."

I opened my eyes as I heard him say this to me. A realization swept over me within an instant. I gasped slightly, when I realized that he had turned me. He had given me a "new life"...and that new life was one of...a vampire.

It all made sense now...the change in my appearance, the thirst for blood, the speed, the hightened senses...it all made so much sense now!

Me, a vampire...it was almost too...unreal to be true. I was a vampire. I really was.

Seto had made me a vampire...

I heard him muse against my head deep within his throat. "Yes Jou...I've given you the kiss of death and filled you with eternal life...and..." he seemed to hesitate. I knew what he was going to say next, but I waited to hear him say it. "We are bound, Jou...for eternity."

I pulled from his embrace and stared up at him. For once the fire in his eyes seemed to shine with happiness, and his lips were pulled into an adoring smile. I wanted to cry on the spot, break down and sob into his chest, and let him comfort me like I knew he would. The thought of being bound to Seto...the thought that he wanted it this way, that he had done it...the idea that now I would always be with Seto, no matter what...until the end of time...

It didn't matter anymore...the feeling of anguish and confusion...nothing in my heart hurt anymore, nothing in my head was objecting anymore. My body was slowly releasing itself to the knowledge that I had become a member of an undead race...and I would be with Seto...

Leaning up on my tip toes, I closed my eyes and pressed my lips to his. I could feel his surprise but it quickly gave away, and soon he was kissing me back. I wrapped my arms around his neck, and let him hold me tightly and we savagely assaulted each other's mouths. It was wonderful...this passion, this feeling, this sense of feeling whole. I could feel my blood burning, it was responding to being so near to Seto's blood, I knew it...my body ached with desire for him. I wanted him, all of him, and now I had him.

We broke the kiss, I gasped just lightly, and grinned as Seto ran his fingertip over my bottom lip. I couldn't believe this...this slaave I felt for him. This attachment, this yearning, this wanting to be his, to be with him always. And now we would be together. Always.

"Seto...my blood is burning..." I don't know why I said it right then, but a sort of discomfort clouded over me...the feeling of hunger. I felt...I wanted more...the girl hadn't been enough...I wanted, needed more!

Seto regarded this for a moment, and then he nodded with a tiny smile. He took my hand, something he had never done before, and led me out of the apartment. I knew we were going somewhere to find someone to feed on...that's what we would be doing now...feeding together. Doing everything together.

As soon as I closed the door to the apartment we went rushing off into the night together, like a frenzied young couple on the prowl for nightlife. We were dancing along the wind like leaves caught in an updraft, spirits that haunted the evening air. The world was a fantasy blur to our eyes, the lights and sounds were magnificent.

This life...this new life...it was amazing, and I was a part of it. And I was with Seto. Something in my head wouldn't understand that I no longer had anything to worry about. I would never be lonely, I would never go hungry...I had power. Oh, this was too much! I had blood that burned of fire, and senses hightened to incredible lengths.

I had power, and I had Seto.

* * *

_A/N: Sorry about the delay, guys. There was a death in the family right after Christmas and I couldn't do much at the time. I also apologize about the shortness. The chapters from here on end will be longer, action-packed, and filled with nyummy yaoi goodness!_


	13. Chapter Twelve

Chihiro: Part One

Chapter Twelve

I know what you're thinking. You've probably seen all those old vampire movies where once one actually becomes a vampire, they adapt to the lifestyle completrely, and they go about feeding and robbing the bodies and disposing of them in some clever way like they've done it a hundred times before, and then they go home to their mansion on some remote tropical island and they try on their $5000 suits and dress up for the next kill. And when its all said and done they go to their coffins for a sleep. And they go through eternity like the world belongs to them and they can go about doing whatever they want.

Yeah, its bullshit. All of it.

The adaptation is incredible, I'll admit. But it's also bloody hard. There's the adaptation to the celerity, and to the heightened senses, and to the fact that you'll never see the sun again. Hell feeding in itself is one of the hardest things to do, and takes the longest to get used to. It was the first thing Seto taught me. He said that if he didn't take the time and show me how to do it properly, I could easily give myself away to humans or whoever was around and watching. He told me this with such assurance that I was positive it had happened to him at one point.

That first night he took me hunting, I figured we were off to some fancy club to seduce a lonely dancer to drink of his blood. But instead we went to the seedy part of Domino, right downtown and he took my hand and we slipped into the shadows in the alley behind one of the pubs.

My nose wrinkled with the smell of mold and cheap beer and old cigarette smoke, and what was probably a million yards ago but seemed so close, I could hear a cat screech and a garbage can being knocked over. Seto pulled me against him into the folds of his coat as his eyes transfixed on the back door of the pub where all the smokers came out. I stared at the door over my shoulder, thinking someone would come out at any moment. The alley was dark, dismal and deserted but to me it seemed illuminated by my new intensive vampire sight, and looking down the alleyway, the light from the street was nearly blinding.

I understood why vampires roamed the night and were allergic to sunlight; probably because the light was too much for their new eyes.

"Stay to the shadows for the next few months," Seto said to me quietly, deep voice rumbling up through his chest. "Until you've mastered it. One of the worst things you can do is be seen when you've just newly been turned."

"Even in a deserted place like this?" I asked.

He smiled softly; I didn't see it but I sensed it. "Humans are stupid Jou, and easy to frighten. Just as easy to decieve. But they're not the ones who have eyes everywhere in this godforsaken city."

I looked up at him. "Who does?"

His deep cerulean pools met with mine with a seriousness I knew he was not making up. "Hunters."

I kept quiet at that point, trying to keep my thirst and my body's anguish for it at bay. Problem was I could smell it everywhere, probably from within the pub in front of us, and I could smell it surging under Seto's skin, the most delicious of it all.

I held to Seto, resting my head against his chest as we waited, for I had a feeling it was going to be awhile. It was strange that he had no heartbeat but I knew I would get used to that. While we had this time waiting for whatever poor bastard would walk out that door, I began to think about things, those which I had overlooked in my excitement.

Where would we live? I sure as hell was not going back to that shitty little apartment, too many people knew I lived there. But of course Seto must have had a place somewhere, an apartment that suited him, dark and expensive. God the more I thought about it the more surreal it seemed. Seto and I were bound and we were going to be together forever.

I'm convinced, now that I think back on it, that I was, as corny as it sounds, blessed. Everything that had gone wrong in my life, all the bullshit from my childhood and high school and those ays I just wished to die...well now I was dead, and I could forget everything, and everyone I knew could forget about me.

And I wasn't alone. I was dead and I had Seto.

I sighed and surrendered into Seto's body, smelling his deep handsome scent and the glorious musk of his blood, closing my eyes and letting. It was all different now, everything was going to change.

I felt Seto stiffen and then I heard it; a gargled voice clumsy with alcohol and it was close. I looked over my shoulder to the door. We waited five minutes and then the door swung open, and a greasy trucker type came stumbling out, at least fifty-pounds overweight with a wretched smell and an appearance less then kind to the eyes.

I reeled from the stink of him, the thoughts of drinking from his unshaved throat not totally appetizing, The fat fucker reached for his smokes in his pocket and collapsed against the nearest brick wall, fishing in his jeans for his lighter, talking to himself in his drunken state. As was to be expected, he had not the faintest clue of our presence there.

"Before you drink from just anyone you must relish in the blood of the evil-doer. Only the lives you take from the evil ones; you'll find that your conscience will die with them. The innocents will linger with you and they will drive you mad."

I nodded. I understood completely. "But how can you tell who is evil and who is not?"

"The blood will guide you in time." he said, lips brushing the shell of my ear. I knew at any moment he was going to instruct me to go.

I shuddered, lips shaking. I couldn't help it, my newborn body wanted the essence that laid within the fat fucker's skin. "I'm thirsty..."

Seto's hand snaked up over my shoulder and caught in my hair, tugging lovingly. "He's for you." he whispered in my ear.

I broke free from Seto, staring at the fat man as he smoked his cigarette. At this point the thirst and the smell of his blood was overpowering. I couldn't care less if he was fat and sloppy and disgusting, all that mattered was the blood.

"Go to the jugular, slowly. If you pace yourself and sink your fangs, you'll take to it as though you've done it a million times." Seto whispered.

I kept that in mind, pacing myself as he said, out of the darkness of the shadows and towards him. He didn't see me; he only continued to smoke his cigarette and stare at the ground in a drunken glare. The only time he ever gestured to let me know I had seen him was when he opened his mouth to swear at me and his cigarette dropped and hit the wet pavement.

I grabbed him with my new predatory hands and gripped him as fast I could, and digging a hand into his shoulder and the other wrenching his fat head to the side, I did as Seto said and went for the jugular, and the cussing bastard only moaned when I sunk my fangs into it.

Immediately I could smell it and it gushed onto my tongue and my mind was a flurry. I could taste it, sweeter and stronger than anything I'd ever tasted before, and the same as with the girl in the park, his memories began to flood my mind.

Seto had been right; somehow he had known the bastard was evil. As I emptied his veins I could see faces, endless white horror-stricken faces, mostly of young girls, speeding through his mind. Those that he preyed upon while he was on the road. I could hear the screams of terror and I could see them sticking out their thumbs, and I could see him leading them into the dark and throwing them down. Young girls picked up, used, and thrown away. Hunted. Hunted like rabbits. Endless, endless young girls.

When he was dry I gripped the fucker so hard that his neck snapped, and I wanted to make it hurt more than anything he had ever imagined, but Seto pulled me off him and I stumbled away. The fat man's body collapsed in dead weight on the cold dirty ground, eyes rolled to the back of his head and a trail of drool trickling out of a corner of his mouth.

I was swimming, loving the blood, gratified, glad the bastard was dead, grinning, gleeful...what other words could possibly describe this feeling?

Seto inspected the body, turning the fat bastard's head with the tip of his shoe. "No spill, very good. You must always remember to stop before the heart does."

I stared down at the body and I began to glare, for in my mind there was still the fresh thoughts of what I had seen in his memory. "I saw that bastard...I saw what he did. I saw it all."

"I know, and aren't you glad he's dead?"

I looked at Seto who was gazing back at me with a pleased demeanor, not exactly smiling but I could tell he wanted to. "Kill the evil ones, Jou, and this will be an easy existence for you."

I nodded in agreement, my head lulling from the success of the kill, and I looked up as Seto approached me and leaned in to kiss me and clean the mess I had made over my lips. I ran my hands up over his chest, enthusiastically taking part in the sloppy kiss, tongues and all, licking at each other as though we fed from each other.

Suddenly Seto pushed me right up against the nearest wall and his lips began to pound mine, his tongue thrashing about in my mouth, and I fought back with an equal enthusiasm, clawing at his coat and adoring his taste, wanting his blood but not willing to sacrifice his perfect skin for the sacred red gush. I moaned deep in my chest and Seto's fingers went to the buttons of my shirt and tore it open as though it were a disgust to him, and in perfect earnest he ran his chilly palms up and down my abs and over my breast bones, brushing nipples and making them hard.

I broke free from the kiss at last, expecting to need air but was pleasantly surprised when I realized that, being clinically dead, I didn't need to breath. I laughed in amusement and went for his lips again, as though I were feeding, and I felt Seto's hands run eagerly over my skin.

I thought he was going to fuck me, right then and there in the alley, but we both knew we couldn't. The fat bastard's body was just laying there, anyone could have come out that door, seen him and screamed and attracted all sorts of attention. Seto was the one that pulled from me, heaving and licking his lips, and staring at me as I rested against the brick wall, aroused and amused.

"What's the matter, Seto?" I asked hoarsely. "You want me. So have me."

Seto showed me how to cover up the puncture wounds in the neck by biting the tip of my tongue and dotting the punctures so that they sealed up magically before my eyes. And then, picking up the body with ease, despite the fact that the bastard was easily four times his own weight, Seto hurled him into the river a few blocks from the pub, and that was the end of lesson one. He said that the proper authorities would find him in time, and dispose of him in whatever way they saw fit.

I myself wanted to see the bastard sink to the bottom of the river and rot away to feed the fishes.

Seto only smiled as he led me away from the scene. "The evil-doers, Jou. Remember that."

The night was nearly over and the sun was on the rise. Surprisingly I could smell it, and an alertness I never knew existed came up within me. Seto was at ease, as usual, and only began to lead me in a different direction than the one we were headed.

"When the sun is rising, head for the nearest safe house. If there isn't one nearby, you must find a dark place to sleep, something vacant. A sewer or an abandoned building of any kind work nicely."

I wrinkled my nose. "A sewer? Aren't we just a little too classy for that?"

Seto grinned at me, and for the first time in a long time I had a glimpse of that beautiful smile and those dangerous fangs. "When the sun is on the rise, Jou, there is no such thing as class."

We couldn't go to my apartment because there were absolutely no closets or dark places large enough for the two of us, and Seto didn't have a safe house anywhere near where we were. But we were close enough to the river that we decided to look for drainpipes, and were fortunate when he found one that burrowed deep into the earth under the sidewalk and had no contact with the sky –or sunlight for that matter – at all.

I crawled in after Seto and we were snug in the pipe but it didn't matter. It was dry and not overly dirty and that was all I was really worried about. Seto let me use the folds of his coat as a cover, and his chest as a pillow, so I cradled up to him and we sat snugly in the drainpipe.

I felt tired all of a sudden, being in a dark place with the sun so early to rise. And I was fed and content and let my eyes slip closed as I rested against Seto's flesh. His handsome scent wooed me to a state of complete drowsiness, and it was then I felt Seto's hand brush and cradle my groin.

I moaned lowly. There was no way in hell enough room for us to even consider having sex in this drainpipe, but if I got aroused it would be torture until I fell asleep. I opened my mouth to protest only to be met with Seto's lips in a quiet, gentle kiss. A kiss goodnight.

"You react well to my touch, Jou. A sure sign that you are mine." Seto whispered, and then rested his head and closed his eyes. "Sleep now, puppy."

A/N: I'm pleased to say that Chihiro is back on track.


	14. Chapter Thirteen

I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh

Chihiro: Part I

Chapter Thirteen

When you're a vampire, you can tell when the moon is rising and when its night and safe to come out. There's a slight shift in the air, it becomes cooler, but that's not how you can tell. The moon rises with a smell that tickles your senses through the undead day sleep and lets you know its okay to come out.

I'm not gonna lie; the moon smells like freshly whipped cream.

Seto woke as I did and we made our way out of the drainpipe and into the night, scuffing the dust and dirt off our clothes. I realized I still had my shoddy clothes on from my apartment, the two-year-old jeans that had holes in them and a shirt that a little too big for me. But Seto had his beautiful clothes and he was brushing off the dirt. I wondered when I would make that wonderful wardrobe switch.

Also, a house. I was not prepared to learn that vampires of such class as Seto slept in drainpipes.

"Seto please tell me you don't usually take to the cover of drainpipes at night." I said it as cutely as I could.

He smiled and I smiled back at him, we both knew he would never use a drainpipe as a coffin night after night.

We went across the river side by side, experimenting with the celerity of the blood. Personally I loved it, a rush of new vampiric speed combined with the blood, so that everything around me was tinted red, as if it clouded my eyesight, and the lights about me blurred. We would slow down and then speed up until I was fully used to it and the redness disappeared into crispness.

The night was young, I could hear the noise of activity all around us, the bustle of humans, their busy little lives bringing them this way and that.

I was excited. "What are we going to do tonight?" I asked as we walked.

"Another lesson in feeding, the humane one."

I frowned. I had only thought predators used the predatory method to achieve their needs, but apparently I was wrong.

"You've practiced the primal need to feed." Seto explained, probably having read my mind. "But we are also given the gift of subterfuge to take blood without killing and without frightening the living."

I was rather confused. "We're meant to take blood from evil-doers without frightening them?"

I was still transfixed on the thought that only drinking the evil-doers to death was the right thing. But why would you worry about frightening them? Why would you not want to drink them to death?

Seto looked down at me with seriousness in his eyes. I could tell he liked that I asked questions, it showed I was somewhat paying attention, but I think my too obvious questions were getting on his nerves. "Jou remember what I told you. The evil-doer will not weigh heavily on your conscience; generally subterfuge is used when you take blood with no mean to kill."

He spoke calmly with the demeanor of a teacher, but I still went red in the face with embarrassment. True, this wasn't school, but it was going to be the rest of my life and I was being tested on it.

"The beauty of subterfuge," he continued. "Is that you can fool anyone into thinking you've seduced your victim. No one, hunter or human, will bother you."

Hmm...I rather liked that.

But there was that H word again. I eyed him suspiciously, wondering if he was a little more worried about hunters then he let on.

"So can we practice that tonight?" I asked, trying to pay as close attention as I could.

"Yes, but since you are so new, we'll practice it on an evil-doer, and save the innocent ones for when you're older."

We were walking down my favourite little street. I could peer into the windows of the restaurants and see people sitting at tables and eating their dinners, and on the patios of little coffeeshops couples sat and enjoyed each other's company and conversation. In the antiques store, I could sense an older gentleman finding interest in an ancient grandfather clock, and in the kitchen-ware store I could hear a newly engaged couple fight over their wedding china.

Where would we find an evil-doer amongst these perfect beings?

We came to a bench underneath a streetlight and Seto stopped me, and when he faced me, his eyes were once again full of seriousness. "In order to find an evil-doer, Jou, you must search minds for the correct sounds."

...Hopefully this was easier than it sounded.

"I want you to close your eyes and focus on the thoughts that you see in the people around you. And listen to them. Listen for an evil-doers by finding the sounds of his memories. Little do they know that their guilts still plague them, even if they don't suspect it."

I blinked for a moment, trying to take it all in, and I closed my mind and prepared to give it a try. Concentrate...concentrate...I could hear everything around me. The clinks and chinks of silverware on plates, the shouting in the kitchens, the rapid-speaking of different languages in the little travel agency. The barking of dogs who were tied up outside fast-food restaurants and waiting for their masters.

And as I listened I began to see them, as though my mind was a camera with a mind of its own, busying from this shop to the next, as if peering in windows to find exactly the right candidate for my next lesson.

I felt Seto's hand hold my shoulder, but I didn't dare open my eyes. "Concentrate on the sounds, not the sights. A murderer can appear harmless to anyone, but not to those in his own memories."

I took a breath, despite the fact of not needing to breathe, and I studied the sounds that buzzed through my head.

And then I heard it. The sound of evil-doing, or at least that was what it seemed. A scream from a young man, roughly about my age. And my thoughts pinpointed on a startling scene in my head.

A man, tall and thin with unkept black facial hair and repulsively bright clothes was hurtling large objects around a seedy-looking massage room, trying to hit a naked man about the same age who ducked from his blows. Then I saw it, the man in the bright clothes pulled a knife. Behind him stood the boy I heard scream, a skinny thing my age. A prostitute. This man was his pimp.

The man in the bright colours was now standing over the man he was throwing the objects at, knife held out with the naked man pleading with him. But the pimp only laughed and said, "This is the last time you'll brand one of my whores."

And then there was the scream.

I opened my eyes and gasped, and stumbled back but Seto caught me before I could fall off the sidewalk. I reeled at what I had just seen, it had been like watching a movie, but I knew it was in my head. It was a power unlike anything I knew ever existed.

Seto looked anxious and slightly worried. "Jou? Are you all right?"

I looked at him and my eyes widened. "I saw one. I know where to find him."

So that had been the lesson in using the Mind Gift, as Seto called it, to find evil-doers in a seemingly quaint place. The scent of the pimp led us behind the alleyways to a massage parlor, known for his association with prostitutes and gang busts and drug dealers. It wasn't just a massage parlor, but it was also a porn studio, a brothel, and a safe haven.

The girl at the front was reading a magazine and told us to have a look around, see what we liked. So we walked along the halls that were painted cherry red and walked past rooms that were open, those that looked like massage parlors, and those that were closed and had sex sounds coming from within. The place stunk of cheap beer, semen and cigarettes. Not pleasant.

I followed the smell of the pimp down the stairs and was startled when I came into a room with a picture window that looked out onto a very large hot spring pool, there in the basement. I could see the pimp through that window, laying back against the tub edge and closing his eyes.

Seto pulled me from the window against his chest and whispered into my ear. "Now Jou listen to me. Using subterfuge can decieve a human into thinking you are irresistible. You must seduce him before you can take of his blood without attracting any alarm."

"But how?" I asked almost breathlessly, not exactly enthused by the thought of seducing this greasy bastard.

"Use your skills of seduction," he said quietly. "Because I am your sire, seduction and suberfuge come highly to me, and as my Childe they extend greatly to you. Use them in any way you see fit, flirt with him, touch him, put yourself in his lap. Make him putty in your hands, and you will be free to drink with no hesitation and no consequence."

I took in a deep breath. To be perfectly honest, I didn't even want to think about sitting in anyone's lap while in a hot tub...except for Seto's.

Seto must have read that thought, for his hand curled in my hair and he rested his cheek against my head. "When this lesson is done, we'll go somewhere quiet, just the two of us."

I was about to open my mouth to ask smartly if it would be another drainpipe, but I could feel his fingers begin to unbutton my shirt and I kept quiet.

The Pimp did not look when I disturbed the peacefulness of the water by putting my foot in. "Mind if I join you?" I asked flirtatiously.

He shrugged but never looked at me. "Knock yourself out, twink."

I scowled, not appreciating being called a twink when I was now the highest predator on the food chain. Guess he was going to learn that soon enough.

I was naked save for my boxers, but there was nothing to be ashamed of. The vampiric blood did a number on my body, not that it wasn't heavenly to begin with, but it did sharpen my hips and make my skin over my abs look different. And the way I moved would appear to a mortal now to be fluent. I wanted to tell myself that I could seduce this guy with ease, but I was not feeling that right at this second, especially when he would even look at me.

He had his head tilted back, the ends of his long unkept black hair getting wet in the water. Behind him on the rail was a glass full of brown liquor, brandy most likely. When I looked, the bastard wasn't wearing anything at all. I bit down on my bottom lip; this was not going to be fun.

I made as much noise as I could getting into the pool, trying to attract his attention, and when I turned around to make sure we were the only ones in here -which we were- I could feel his hot gaze on my back. Don't ask me how, I just knew.

So I swallowed, and seductively slid my boxers down over my hips, letting them land in the water and soak, and then I stepped out of them and forgot about them.

The Pimp's breath pitched and I was relieved. At least he was attracted to boys. That would make this somewhat easier.

"What are you in for, blondie?" I heard him ask in his gruff voice.

I looked at him over my shoulder, fluttering my eyelashes. The Pimp was looking right at me, but his eyes were hungering over my skin.

"Let me guess...you're in for a 'massage' with one of the parlor girls?" he asked, and gave me a little smart grin.

I shook my head. "I don't care much for girls." I said in a low voice.

He smirked. "Yeah, I hear that. Can't live with em, can't shoot em. Well you can, but it can get you into trouble." and then he let out a laugh.

Gawd, what a jerkoff. I can't believe out of all the people in this city, my mind had to find the memories of this asshole and lead me here.

I had to quickly think of something to say. He was still checking me out, slurping down his brandy, and I turned around to fully face him, giving him a nice image of me completely naked, and a tasty sight of my cock. I knew his mouth was just watering.

"So what do you like?" I asked, and crossed my arms, poking one of my hips out slightly.

The Pimp put down his glass on the rail and let out a snarly laugh. "Little blond boys that don't do what they're told." and he raised his eyebrows, requesting an obvious invitation to come closer.

So I did. I waded through the water towards him, and his eyes still thirsted over my form. Soon I was in arm's length of him, and I let my tongue slide over my bottom lip seductively.

"Little blond boys that...don't do what they're told?" I repeated, rather seductively I might add.

The greasy bugger was totally loving this. He grinned, resting his arms on the rail beside his head and stretching out his legs. "Yeah...so if I told you to go sit over there..."

Mentally I screamed in agony. But for real, I practically sat down in his lap and made myself comfortable.

"I'm sorry sir...I guess I had an attitude problem." and I stuck out my lower lip in a childish pout.

The bastard was growing hard underneath me, I could already feel him, and his arms slipped down into the water. His face was getting red but I could tell he was getting just a little too excited.

"I guess I should punish you then, shouldn't I?" he said seductively.

Aw fuck...

His lips crashed into mine and his arms adjusted me so I sat perfectly in tune with his hardening cock, which I could feel underneath me. I tried not to pull away in repulsion; the Pimp already had a taste of semen on his tongue and I fought the urge to vomit, if vampires do vomit.

The Pimp pulled from the kiss and gave me a wicked grin, curling his fingers under my chin to bring me closer. "So tell me...are you the one Charlotte promised me? She told me she was going to send me a pretty little toy twink for me to play with..."

In a split second, the bastard had a finger inside me, and despite my surprise, I knew I had to do something quick. So I took a deep breath and said. "Come a little closer, I'll whisper it to you."

It was much easier than I thought it was going to be. The bastard went into a dreamlike state as I sank my fangs. And I drank and drank and drank and when I pulled away he moaned wantonly, and when I got up to look at him, his head was limb and lulling, but he wasn't dead.

My god. Would he remember me?

"He won't remember anything," Seto said from the other side of the room, and I looked over and he stood with his hands in his pockets, real relaxed, looking at me with a simple demeanor. "Even if you do happen to meet again, I don't imagine he'll have the memory to remember."

Of course, because I had taken them all when I drank.

The Pimp was alive when we left him, unconscious and barely covered in the locker room on one of the benches, as though he'd gotten drunk and collapsed, and we hurried out of there as fast as we could. The blood was fresh in my veins and I felt alive and rushed, and I was the one to take Seto's hand and hurry through the city streets, feeling unbelievable and alive.

As it turned out, the feed and the subterfuge had been gentler on me, I wasn't so affected by the entire experience, as I had been with the kill. The memories, though vivid, did not stay with me, and even as he was an evil-doer, my conscience didn't even think to bother me. I loved this, the satisfaction in the feed, and I was glad now that I knew I could feed without killing. I could feed from whoever I wanted, whenever I wanted, without the danger of being discovered.

I felt so alive, more than alive, and I wanted to jump and run and dance until the moon, probably what most newborn vampires like to do. But when the sun was on the rise, Seto, in his no-nonsense manner, directed me away from the city, into the suburban area, and I knew we were going to his hiding place, the one he was at when I was still human.

It was nearly dawn when we came around the corner of a solitary dark street, and I realized where we were. We were in a large cemetery; and as we stepped amongst the stones I knew that I had seen it before. It was close to a park I walked through to get home from school. Kids loved to dare each other to come into this cemetery late at night, because late at night there was nothing more frightening. This cemetery had been here forever, and the people buried here had been buried here even longer.

But as we walked through it, all I could feel was the breathing of the trees and the quiet amongst the stones. There was nothing frightening about it, in all retrospect, we were more frightening than anything in this cemetery. Seto led me towards the dark corner of the cemetery, towards a large granite mausoleum, and I smiled, biting into my lip, because soon we would be alone.

The mausoleum was large, as though it were a family tomb, and Seto had cleverly hid the entrance with vines and a few stray pieces of plywood, and even then with all his strength he had to move a slab of stone and then we were inside. I followed him inside and he closed it tight, and I inspected the space.

He had made it homey enough. There was space for six coffins but there was only one large old-fashioned one in the center, one with a heavy lid that could only be moved by a vampire or by five strong mortal men. Off in one corner there was a desk, piled high with books and a large candelabra, and next to it there was another tall tower of heavy books.

I had to admit, I was disappointed. I thought he had a big beautiful apartment and we would be staying there. I hadn't counted on an old mausoleum in some old cemetery.

But when I turned around to look at Seto, he was taking off his trench coat, and I smiled, remembering that perhaps this space wasn't the nicest it could be, but aside from feeding there was also sex.

I smiled and approached Seto, who turned and looked at me curiously. "Jou-"

I pounced on him, literally, for the blood was still so flush and delicious in my system. I connected my lips hotly with his and pushed him against the nearest wall and even though he was taken aback, I could feel him begin to respond, however slowly, moving his arms carefully around my form.

I broke the kiss, gasping, and before I knew it, my hands were at the fly to his trousers, working apart the button and bringing down the zipper. "Gawd Seto I want you so bad..."

"Jou, wait-" he raised his arms and pressed his hands against my chest.

"Wait? I can't wait." I said, shuddering, trying to pull his trousers down, and sloppily kissing his neck. "I've been waiting since the day I first saw you...that night in the art gallery..."

It was true. I had wanted him since that day, I wanted him more than I had wanted anyone. And here we were, alone and immortal, and I could barely contain myself.

But Seto was resisting, and I tried to pretend he wasn't. "Jounouchi, stop it. Listen to me." he pushed me away, not fiercely, but I took a step back and stared at him.

"What is it? What's the matter?"

Seto stared at me, something unlike panic in his blue eyes, and I was confused. I thought he wanted me, I thought we were going to be together. Why was he so hesitant? And why was he looking at me as though I were attacking him?

"Jou you need to understand. This, like everything else, is different." but his voice was shaky.

I shook my head and walked to him, laying my flat palms against his shirt. "Show me. Show me now. Right now, right here."

Seto shook his head. "There's no time, Jou. We need to sleep. You need to sleep, it's imperative for a newborn to sleep."

I sighed heavily, disappointed, and I let my palms fall from his shirt. I turned around and stared at the coffin in the center of the room, and my shoulders sagged. Well...at least we'd be sharing the coffin, if nothing else.

I felt Seto wrap his arms around my waist from behind and nestle me to his chest. I sighed, let my head fall back against his shoulder, and he leaned down to talk into my ear. "What can I do to make you happy, my poor puppy?

I smiled slyly to myself, and turning myself around in his arms, I leaned forward and kissed him, and gently maneuvered one of his hands down to my crotch and released it, letting Seto do his thing. He smiled sweetly, kissing me, and he dropped down to his knees fluidly, and I could hear my zipper come down and I felt the cold air hit me, and I gasped as I felt his mouth on me.

At that moment I was convinced that all my concerns would soon be vanquished. Our physical relationship was growing, and I was already becoming stronger than I had imagined. And we could always move into a new apartment when I started to bring in "income". But as I was about to find out, things were not about to go as I had anticipated.

A/N: Shaky start, anyone? Or are things gonna smooth out?


	15. Chapter Fourteen

I do not own these characters.

Warning! This chapter contains lemony goodness.

Chihiro: Part I

Chapter 14

Now I'd like to tell you that from here on in my story is completely sunshine, lollipops and rainbows. But it isn't. To tell you the truth, this is where my story takes a very unexpected and very disappointing turn. On my part, at least.

My third night as a vampire, I went to nearby boardwalk at the dead of night and coaxed an unfortunate pimp to follow me into the alleyway. Poor son of a bitch, never gave it a second thought. Followed me as if I were the messenger to Heaven. I stood against the brick in the darkness, watched him while he tried to spot me, and then he settled next to me and asked me what I needed, he could give me anything I wanted.

Course you know how this turns out.

I sucked him dry with ease, he never even made a sound. He flinched once, and his body jerked, and then he was gone. And I covered the wounds with my blood and left the joker at his post, and drifted away casually and listened from afar as the whores who wandered to him were now beginning to try to revitalize him, and panicking when he didn't respond.

I went back to the spot where I had done the deed, and there came his voice from the shadow. "You enjoy playing with them, don't you?"

Seto's eyes pierced me from the darkness where he stood, and I stopped and smiled at him in my drunken stupor. Seto was a very to-the-point vampire, never really played with his food. I was the opposite, I loved to make my victims swoon, if only a little bit, and then be taken alive as if in a dream. I don't know why, exactly.

"They played with me when I was human." I told Seto. "Why can't I return the favor?"

He moved slowly out of the shadows. I now saw him in his massive stature, and in my blood drunkeness, I drifted to his arms. Seto only watched me, watched to see what I would do.

I clutched his coat in both my fists and wrenched on it harshly, bringing Seto down to my height but that didn't surprise him. I leaned up and kissed his lips savagely, as if needing them desperately to breathe, but truthfully I just adored the taste of him. Seto tasted so fresh and delicious, hardly what I had thought when I was human. I thought he had tasted rather spicy and sweet. But now he tastes like fresh air and flesh. Milky-white flesh, delicious, and I was delirious in my need for him.

But then I tasted something else. Blood. And my entire body shuddered very violently as I soon discovered that it was Seto's blood. Seto opened his lips and down came the gush past my own, onto my tongue and down my throat and it completely electrocuted me. I moaned deeply and felt weak at the knees but Seto took my waist in both hands and held me upright effortlessly.

I closed my eyes in this dream-like state, drinking as it was offered to me, and loving it intensely. And then as it diminished, Seto slowly eased me away from him, and I was more drunken than before.

Now you could be reading this and thinking that this was a touching moment between two vampires who loved each other. And I hate to disappoint you, because it wasn't.

I found that every time I moved to kiss Seto, or to take off his shirt, or to unbutton his trousers, he bit into his tongue and fed me his blood through the mouth, and by the time I had finished taking what was given to me, I was in yet another drunken stupor.

It didn't take me long to realize that Seto was appeasing me. Not sexually, of course. Through the blood.

And you can argue that a vampire's largest pleasure is to receive blood from another vampire, but that isn't true. I got erections as easily as I got thirsty, and with the man of my dreams as my maker, I had figured that I was living in a dream. But Seto never got erections, as far as I knew. I couldn't smell when he needed intimacy, and when I would become frustrated and take matters into my own hands and squeeze his groin, the only response I would ever get was the feeding of the blood.

It was like a mother bird feeding her chicks. And I hated it.

So, as you can imagine, this was not exactly the best way to start my new undead life. I tried to see past it, but it was difficult. Difficult when you have twice the sex drive and negative a body in which to unleash a little bit of pent-up energy. When I woke early in the evening I had a powerful hard-on and when I came back from feeding it was no different.

I wanted to tell you this because not everyone's life goes exactly the way they want it, and that includes both the mortal and the immortal world.

Of course...that doesn't always help to ease the disappointment. Did Seto really believe that the greatest pleasure that could be shared between two people was the gift of blood? Had he lost his mind? And many a night I took my sadness and my disappointment away from the mausoleum and soaked myself in it alone.

But just because something isn't going your way doesn't mean you have to abide by it. I took matters into my own hands, and when that didn't work, I looked elsewhere for satisfaction to my needs. And being a vampire, you never need to travel far to find exactly what you're looking for.

So what was it...I guess it was the sixth night of being undead, and after I had come back from feeding, I had tried to coax Seto into sex, but of course I was unsuccessful, and I had to flee to keep him from seeing my tears, so I went to the streets in the middle of the night and walked away from the mausoleum.

It is true that vampires cry blood tears. At one point while I was walking I happened to realize the blood smeared on my fingers from trying to wipe them away, and in shock I went to the nearest window, only to discover that I had no reflection. Now that...that is a feeling I can't quite describe. It was always there, your reflection, in the glass of shops and in mirrors that you looked into, it was always there and you don't even know it's there until you look and suddenly it isn't there. Nothing. It's like you're looking out at nothing. And it's an undescribable feeling, but not in a good way. It's a feeling of emptiness.

So...screw the idea that I'd be able to wipe off my tears by looking at myself in glass. Instead I just used my sleeve, and by the time I was satisfied I had dried both cheeks and all the blood was gone from my face, my arm looked like it had been gashed and I was bleeding profusely. No matter, it wasn't as if I didn't have the rest of eternity to find new clothes.

I was walking along with my hands shoved in my pockets, I think it was about midnight or close to that, and the restaurants were starting to close. You could see the lights go out in the windows from down the walk. It also takes some getting used to, remembering that humans need to sleep during the night while you're walking around sucking off people's necks. The only activity now were in the bars, I could hear them a mile away. The sound of people talking over sport games and loud music, and the swearing and noise of bar fights. I could hear it all, and that in a way was a comfort. You could be alone but know you weren't completely alone in the dead of night.

Ten minutes pass and I'm walking along and I hear a bar fight from the tavern about ten steps ahead of me. It was a fierce one, I could hear the shouting through the air as if it were happening right in front of me, and it made me curious so I drew closer. More shouting, the sound of chairs and tables falling over, beer bottles breaking on the floor, and the sound of fists connecting with jaws.

I stood outside and listened. The bar didn't have any windows so I couldn't see in, but I didn't even have to. I was standing there only a minute and the door flew open and some guy came crashing out of it, as though he had been pushed out, and he was stumbling and trying to regain his balance. I only had a second to look at him before someone appeared at the door, probably the bartender.

"This is the last time I'm gonna tell ya, Keith. If you can't handle your whiskey, don't come round here anymore threatening my customers!" and the guy didn't even wait for a reply, he slammed the door shut and that was the end of that.

I stared at the door for a moment and then I stared at the guy he had thrown out, who by now had regained his stature and waved a hand at the door as if to dismiss it. The guy was obviously drunk, or at least getting there, I saw him having trouble knowing where to put his feet. I smiled a little, I couldn't help it, it had been awhile since I saw someone actually thrown out of a pub.

He turned on his heel and looked at me. At least I think he was looking at me, he was wearing sunglasses, and had a bandana on his head, as if to distract from his greasy-looking hair. I studied him briefly; he would have been sexy if he got up the gall to take a shower in the morning. I could smell the stink on him, and not just whiskey, and not just cigarette smoke.

The guy was obviously pissed that I was looking at him so callously. He scowled. "What the fuck are you looking at?"

Ignoring him I looked him over. He had a good, good body, I could tell even though he was trying to hide it with a wife beater that was a bit big for him, and a denim jacket that covered his arms and shoulders. I could smell his blood, strong blood, and it made me shiver just a little bit, and I looked at his hands, big strong hands, and then I looked back at him, and I could tell just by the way he was looking at me, that he wasn't angry as he might have been a minute ago. He was studying me quite intently, as though he had seen me before but didn't remember from where.

Finally I recognized him, and I grinned. "You're Bandit Keith. From the radio."

When I was first in high school, this guy Bandit Keith was the hottest thing on the radio, and I can't remember why exactly. But I remember walking past comic book stores and banks and seeing his posters everywhere, big strange posters with a cartoon Keith screaming something in a big speech balloon. Weird how I had never really stopped to see what he was saying in those speech balloons, and weird that I never really listened to his show. Weirder that I had recognized him almost instantly.

Indignantly, he pushed his sunglasses up the bridge of his nose with one finger, not taking his eyes off me, or so I thought. "Yeah...that's me. Or at least it was me. They're thinking about cancelling my show."

I frowned, completely unaware that he was still doing that show. "Is that why you got into that fight?"

He scowled. "What, because I might be out of the job? No, some cocksucker in there had the balls to suggest that I was looking at his fucking chick the wrong way, some stupid shit like that."

I couldn't stop staring at him. Something about the way he talked, the way he moved, and how tall he was, and his build...a good, good body. I couldn't get that out of my mind.

So...remember when I told you that vampires can get erections? Well you might as well cue it in right here.

I took a breath in and looked at Bandit Keith, who was still looking at me, and I remembered my power of subterfuge. Maybe that was why he was looking at me so intently; maybe I just looked bloody sexy that night, and now I was using the blood to radiate off to him exactly what I wanted. And I think, much to my extreme excitement, that he was picking up on it. He understood what I was getting at. Or maybe that was the power of the blood; bending mortals to your will even when you don't suspect it.

Before I knew it I was standing so close to him that I could reach out with my hand and run my palm down that smooth, hard body of his, and I shivered. And when I looked up at him, he was looking down at me.

I thought it even before I said it. "Take me back to your apartment."

And then, as though it were instinctive, as though he were thinking it and not me, he took my wrist and led me away from the bar.

Radio stars with a lot of popularity in this town get paid a lot of money. I could see that from his apartment. Big fucking place in the nicest part of downtown Domino, took us awhile to get here but hey, it certainly was worth it. I took a moment going from room to room, examining what he owned, looking at pictures on the walls, and the furniture he owned, and the lights of the city as they came in through the window. The apartment was a bit too elegant for someone like him, as though decorated for someone completely different.

He locked the door behind him, threw his key onto a nearby designer table, and shoved his hands in his jeans. "If you want a drink there's a bar by the fireplace there."

I looked, and indeed there was a little square fireplace, one of those fireplaces that you can see from three different rooms, one that you could activate with a switch. I looked for the wall switch and found it, and in an instant the fire was burning away, and it made me grin.

I had little interest in the bar, and even littler interest in the alcohol it provided. I turned around and looked at Keith, who just stood there staring at me, and in the light of the fire I began to unbutton my shirt, and when it was undone, I let it slide from my shoulders. I wanted to say, "Come here" but I didn't, and I didn't have to. In a moment Keith wandered towards me, as if he couldn't take it anymore, and before he was even in front of me I could smell the arousal in him, and I could smell his blood traveling downward.

He had taken off his denim jacket so there was only the wife beater left on him. I looked at his arms and they made me weak; muscled arms, beautiful flawless arms, and I ran my thin white hands over them as if testing to see that they weren't fake. I grinned, and then I ripped the wife beater right off him and let it fall to the floor, and then I stared at his chest. His abs, what perfect abs, and a strong washboard stomach. He was making me weak, just the sight of him.

Keith put his hands on my hips and sat down on his black leather couch, across from the fireplace, and he sat me down in his lap. I could feel his erection, hard against my jean-clad ass, and it excited me, I have to admit, and I could smell his need. He had no desire to kiss me, but I didn't care about that. I cared about that rock-hard body and his hands at the buckle to my belt.

We didn't get naked, there was no need to. My jeans were bundled at my knees and he just sat there with his fly undone. And he didn't use lubricant, but there wasn't any need for that either. The pain in his penetration made me hiss both in anticipation and in excitement, but not in pain. When you're a vampire, pain is something completely different. Not the same thing at all.

Keith did not waste any time. He was inside me and thrusting up into me madly. I bit down on my lip, enjoying it intensely. I didn't even have to move, Keith was doing all the work, as though he had done it a million times before and knew exactly what to do to get what he wanted real fast.

But then he picked me up, and didn't bother to pull out, and he carried me out of the room. I don't know how, but with a body like that I'm sure you found some way to manage. And he threw me down onto a soft surface, a bed I discovered, and I got even more excited then I already was, if that's possible.

He pulled out, grunting in frustration, and he pushed me so I was on my stomach and then he pulled my jeans right off me. I loved it, I was grinning the entire time, and he wrapped an arm around my stomach and brought me up onto my knees and then he really went to town, penetrating me again and moaning as he pushed in deeper and deeper.

It was intensely pleasurable. I found myself gripping the sheets in my fingers and biting down hard on my lip. Sex wasn't different when you were a vampire, it was just more incredible. And when I became so painfully aroused, Keith gripped my erection and started to pump me in time to his thrusts. My moans became louder and louder, because the pleasure became better and better, and then in a moment he gripped me so tightly and his thrusts stopped, and he let out a choked sound in his throat and I could actually feel him squirt inside me. It almost made me laugh.

He fell down on top of me then, but I hadn't climaxed so I tried to get him to get back up and finish me off, but I didn't need to. He pulled out of me but then he stuck a finger inside, and touched me somewhere that made me scream. And he squeezed on my erection as he did this, as he touched this magic spot, and I screamed like some sort of animal in heat, because it was such an incredible feeling. And it only took about five minutes of this, of rubbing and squeezing, and then I squirted. Or I had an orgasm at least.

Keith fell down beside me as I relished in the afterglow of my orgasm. It hadn't even occurred to me that this was my first real time with a man, I don't get real sentimental about that stuff. Either way it was incredible, and I laid on my back and closed my eyes and just listened to my blood as it surged. And Keith beside me after awhile starting running his flat palm on my stomach, over my abs.

"You have the whitest skin I've ever seen." he said as though he were awed by it, and I opened my eyes and looked at him. He just continued to stare. It hadn't occurred to me to drink from him, I had already fed and wasn't in the need for it. But I could smell something else other than the blood under his rock hard skin. I could smell sunrise.

I stood up, fished around for my jeans and shoved them on. "I've gotta go, get back home before sunrise."

He sat up and stared. "Are you sure? I mean...go if you need to, but you don't have to."

I zipped up my jeans and looked at him over my shoulder. He was still staring at me, completely awed, by my body and limbs and the colour of my skin. After a moment he swallowed, and I could see his placid cock in his lap starting to get a little harder. I could smell it.

I wandered into the other room without another word, looking for my shirt, and he followed me in, stared at me from the doorway of the bedroom as I put my shirt on. And then, when I went to unlock the door, he stopped me for a minute. "Look, uh...what are you doing tomorrow night?"

I smirked. I really had the guy falling in love with me. "Who knows where I'll be tomorrow night."

"Well...if you want." and he produced a card, from that table where he threw his keys, and he gave it to me. It was a blue card with a big flower on it. Lotus Blossom.

"It's a massage parlor." Keith said sheepishly. "I'm there most nights...I did an ad premium for them awhile back so I get everything free of charge. Come by some night."

I smiled, and taking the card I nodded to him. "See ya cowboy." and I was out the door.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, was my first perfect attempt of subterfuge. And now that I knew it worked, eternal life was going to get a lot more fun from now on.

So I go back to the mausoleum and there's Seto sitting at his desk reading his stupid books, and I don't even say anything to him, but I know he can smell the seed of Keith inside me. I went to the coffin and settled myself in for a good sleep, with a little smile on my lips, and I was hoping to gods that it was driving Seto crazy, even though it probably wasn't.

Three nights later, after I was sure Bandit Keith was positive he would never see me again, I drifted over to this place, the Lotus Blossom, after I had fed, and I could smell him from outside. It was not unlike any other massage parlor in Domino, a lot better than the one where I had fed from the pimp within my first few nights of being a vampire. A little cleaner, a little more professional, and hey, it might actually have been a massage parlor, and not a brothel or a crack house.

No one to greet me when I came inside; the desk at the front was empty. No matter. I made my way along the hallways, looking in through the doors on my left and right hand side; mostly people getting massages from women in G-strings. If I was straight I would have loved the girls in this place, but alas I was not, so I continued to hunt for my prize.

I could smell Keith's blood amongst the halls here, a little more potent amongst the others. I followed it down into the basement, which was a bit busier. A bath house, I realized as I descended the stairs. I could feel the heat of the steam and smell the bath salts, and I listened to the women who tended to customers as they tittered away, and I could see, from the top of the stairs, that this bath-house literally went on for a few miles. All manner of tubs too, small personal ones and giant ones, that you would probably use for a company party or something.

I wandered along, my fingers grazing the rice paper dividers that isolated one tub from the next, and ladies carrying ice tea and washclothes ran by me, tittering to themselves. It was as if no one even saw me come in, but that didn't matter. I was only here for one thing.

I could smell Keith as I moved along the baths, his blood scent becoming more and more potent. If he was in a bath, this would be a very, very fun night.

And then I stopped at a rice paper divider. I could see him through the rice paper, relaxing in his own personal bath, a fairly decent sized one too. I grinned, and fluently I slid open the divider and let myself in.

He had his head tipped back, and when he heard the divider open, he let out a groan. "It's about fucking time, didn't I order that sake like an hour ago-" he trailed out when he lifted his eyes and they settled upon me and his attitude changed completely, his expression fell into something not unlike horror, but awed horror, and his eyes became wide.

I grinned. I gotta tell you, it's fun to have this sort of effect on someone. "I haven't got sake, but I have something else you might like."

Keith gave me a strange sort of smile, a little one, and he relaxed again. "Didn't think I'd see you here...it's been three nights."

I didn't answer him. I took off my shirt in an instant, and stood there staring at him, and then I let my jeans undone and then fall down to my ankles and sat there as I stepped out of them. And then I took a bowl of cool water which Keith would have used for bathing before getting into the tub, and splashed it all over me, wetting my hair and everything else.

Even under water I could smell Keith's erection. I put down the bowl and shook out my hair and ran my hands up over my hips and chest and up into my hair and then I shook it out again. I could hear Keith grunt just lowly under his breath.

"Come here." he growled.

Carefully I stepped into the tub, the water was warm but when you're a vampire, temperature doesn't phase you the same way it does when you're human. And Keith, hell he didn't even wait, he moved forward and took my hips in his hands and did what he did three nights ago, he brought me down into his lap, so now I straddled him in the water.

And much to my surprise, he started to kiss me, and not just like on my neck and jaw, but he started to kiss my mouth, and feverishly too. And then he wrapped an arm around my neck, as if to keep me from getting away, and then his tongue slunk into my mouth. I moaned just slightly, because in truth this was what I had been waiting for, a good fucking tongue kiss to show that someone somewhere was actually glad to see me.

Keith broke the kiss and he fisted his erection and positioned it at my asshole, and in a second he had pushed his way inside. He growled low in his throat, and I hissed in pleasure, and he wasted no time and moved into a steady rhythm before even waiting to see if I was ready. I put my hands on his shoulders, running my thumbs over his sharp collarbones as he thrust into me again and again, and I watched his facial expression, amused, because I never watched someone make their sex face before. It was funny.

I closed my eyes and relished in it, as he fucked me. I loved it; Keith was hard and relentless and I needed that in a lover, things couldn't always be soft and romantic. And I opened my throat and let little noises escape me, little moans and gasps, and that drove Keith crazy, I know because he started thrusting harder and harder. It was a wonder a manager or someone hadn't come in on us to tell us to stop doing what we were so obviously doing.

And then he squirted. He grabbed my shoulder and held me down as he thrust up and he let his head back and moaned loudly as his orgasm washed over him. And me, hell I didn't let this go to waste, I fisted my erection and started pumping as fast as I could, and in time I too released, and relished in my orgasm.

So then he was lying against the tub and I collapsed against his hard as rock body, closing my eyes because now I felt like going to sleep, but in a moment he recovered and pulled me back with his hands on my hips, and kissed me again. "I am going to fuck you all night long..." he growled in a way that made me shiver.

But then – we heard the rice paper door slide open.

Keith heard it first, broke the kiss, and got angry right away. "Hey! Go the fuck away, can't you see I'm busy?!"

I looked over my shoulder to see who had come in, expecting one of those ladies with the sake he had ordered, looking at us with her eyes wide.

But then I gasped. "Seto."

He stood there with an expression as his face that made me think at any moment he was going to burst into flames. His blue eyes narrowed to mine as if to throw dangers, and I could tell the aura that ebbed around him was one of great fury.

"I've had enough of this." he growled dangerously.

Keith knew better than to say anything else; Seto was too dangerous to give any sass, especially at a time like so, so I stood up, letting Keith slide out of me, and I said. "I'll be back."

Seto waited until I had my jeans on and then he led me away from Keith's tub. I followed him dutifully, noticing how no one around us seemed to see him, or me. Maybe they did see him and decided it would be better not to bug him, what with the expression on his face.

We walked towards the stairs, and that was when he spun around on his heel and glared at me. "You insufferable child...do you have any idea what you're doing?"

I shrugged. "I was fucking Bandit Keith, what's the problem?"

"You're fornicating with humans!" He snarled in almost a whisper, so that no one else would hear us. "Toying with them is one thing, but fornicating is different. Fornicating is unclean. And I want it to stop right here. It's unacceptable."

I shrugged again. "Why? Why is it unacceptable?"

"You risk exposing our kind every time you do it! At first I thought it was merely to amuse yourself, but now I see what it really is and it must stop right here!"

I laughed. I found this quite interesting; here was my vampire master that I loved and wanted above anyone in the world, who wouldn't touch me with a ten foot pole, who was now lecturing me about having sex with humans. "You won't touch me and yet you lecture me on having sex with other people?"

And then I grew slightly angry. "I have needs, Seto, and you fail to meet them? What am I supposed to do?"

Seto continued to glare at me, that dangerous glare that would have frightened me shitless if I was still human, but I wasn't. I could fight him if I needed to, he didn't scare me anymore. "You know when you turned me I thought you liked me enough to touch me but its apparent that you can't even stand me, let alone love me. So who are you to lecture when I go looking for that warmth elsewhere?"

He stood there quietly, and I was sure he wasn't going to say anything at all. I could feel the anger dissipating from him, as though I had made a valiant point, but still I could tell he wasn't going to say anything. He wasn't going to apologize or anything of the nature. So I waved it off, turned around to go back to Keith, totally done with this conversation, when he said it.

"You're right." he said softly, with all seriousness in his eyes. "I don't love you."

...That hit me like a ton of bricks to the face. I stared at him, thinking at first that he was kidding, but then as the seconds crawled by I realized that he was being serious. He...didn't love me. Asshole. Fucking asshole!

And then Seto said something else. "But you're my childe and I won't have you acting out of turn."

Mother. Fucking. ASSHOLE!

Well that was it, with a deep breath I ran right past him, up the stairs and through the building as fast as I could. And when I was safely out of the building, I went into celerity speed, which you usually don't do unless you're sure there aren't humans around. But I didn't give a shit. And I didn't know where I was going at first. I was just getting away. I could feel Seto's presence at my back, demanding that I come back and talk to him, but I couldn't. I just couldn't.

I felt the blood tears sting in my eyes, and the hurt rose up from inside of me and started to tug at my heart, and soon I was sobbing. He didn't love me? Why the fuck did he turn me if he didn't love me? What was the fucking point? And all those times he came to my apartment when I was still human, and toyed with me...was he just playing with his food? He must have been, if he didn't love me.

But again, why the hell did he turn me if he had no incentive to love me? This hurt above all things, that he turned me with the knowledge that he would never love me. Like he did it because he was bored or something. Goddamn it, this was unbearable. I knew that Seto didn't want to touch me, and sure maybe he had his reasons, but he didn't even want to love me.

I ran and ran and before I knew it I was at my old apartment complex, and I sincerely couldn't remember a time I had ever been so happy to see it. The fucking run-down place, suddenly it looked like fucking Buckingham palace to me. I could go in, sit in the dark and be by myself, and let this blow over, and stay there for the rest of eternity if I had to, and forget that Seto existed.

I paused and stared at the complex, with its lights on here and there, and I wiped the blood from my cheeks, and with my hands in my pockets, totally realizing that I didn't even have a shirt on, I sauntered over to the piss-old building, letting the sadness come up and swallow me.

Next chapter: Interesting chapter...hard to summarize, but not one you wanna miss.


	16. Chapter Fifteen

I do not own these characters. I do not make any money writing this story.

Chihiro Part I

Chapter Fifteen

So here I am, 1:25 in the morning, headed towards my old apartment complex without a shirt on, crying my eyes out so no doubt there's blood streaming down my face and neck, and it's just my fucking luck that once I step on the first steps to go up to my apartment, my landlady's light flashes on, her face appears at the window, and ten seconds later she's out the door with the works: fucking hair curlers, fuzzy pink slippers, a plush blue housecoat and a pissed off ginger-cat in her arms.

I could have run off but no doubt that would have scared the shit out of her and she'd already seen it was me, there wasn't much use in trying to get away. But if I stayed she'd question the blood, and the missing shirt...and shit, I hadn't been around to the apartment in the past three or four weeks, so she's probably been wondering where the fuck I've been.

Now Mrs. Tunaka, that's my landlady, she's getting old. But she's sharp. She knows when things are wrong; apparently those are one of the things they teach you at landlady school. Quickly I used my forearms to wipe away as much blood as I could, luckily some of it was caked so it just flaked away, the rest settled on my arms but it would do so long as it wasn't on my face. Mrs. Tunaka came stumbling out of her door staring at me as though I'd come back from the dead (no real pun intended) and her eyes were huge behind her reading coke-glasses, and her mouth was dropped wide open.

"Katsuya!" she cried with one hand at her lips. "I was worried! You've not been back in weeks, I called the police!"

Eep. Not good. Proper Domino authorities did not need to know we existed. I hope they hadn't come to scope the place. I took Mrs. Tunaka's hand in mine. "I'm sorry I worried you, I was just visiting a friend downtown."

"For three weeks?!" she wailed. "I thought you'd been killed or...or drowned!"

She might as well have been my grandmother. "I'm okay, Mrs. Tunaka. I'm sorry I worried you. I should have called."

Mrs. Tunaka let out a sigh and squeezed my hand. "Well now that you're here you best get in and call your father."

I felt my lip curl in disgust. "Why would I want to do that?"

"He came by two weeks ago looking for you, knocked on my door and asked if I'd seen you. Course I tell him no and we go into your apartment-"

"You went in to my apartment?"

"And we see your school books and an empty food carton and laundry all askew. Katsuya we didn't know what to think...so we called the police."

Fine-bloody-tastic.

She reached for her old smelly handkerchief in her housecoat pocket and dabbed her eyes with it. I really hadn't meant to make her worry. She just sorta slipped my mind was all. She looked up at me with great big glassy eyes. "Just promise me you'll call him."

"I will." I lied. "Thanks."

She padded her cheeks with a handkerchief. "Well I'll leave you be." she said and gripped my hand again. "But don't you ever scare me like that again."

I apologized, watched her go off towards her door, and I went into the apartment.

It smelled the same as I left it, looked the same. A dark messy hole...but at least it was mine and I could be alone. I kicked off my shoes and collapsed on the sofa, dust billowing in a cloud as I sank into the old cushions. God you never know what you miss until you actually have it again.

Seto was gone from my head as if allowing me time to vent. Good, I was in no mood to even look at him. How could he say that to me? Did he think I wouldn't react? The entire premise of his turning me was that we'd be together as lovers, not...father and son. Of course it did explain a few things...why he would never touch me. Why he fed me whenever I tried to kiss him. It explained why he wasn't very close, despite the fact that he'd been close when I was still human.

Honestly, what was the big fucking deal? If he didn't turn me to make me his lover and companion for all eternity, then was the point? What was the mother-fucking point?

I sighed. I couldn't think about it, it just took way too much energy out of me. I stretched and laid down on the couch and hugged myself, suddenly feeling chilled without a shirt, but I didn't want to get up and walk down the hallway and find another one.

And I couldn't stop thinking about Bandit Keith, all horny and no release, just waiting for me in that bathhouse thinking that I'd be back any minute. At least he was always glad to see me.

And another thing buzzed about in my head: why did Dad come around looking for me? We hadn't spoken since I'd moved into the apartment, I was completely unaware that I had even given him the address. Fine mess he had to go and talk to Mrs. Tunaka and make her worry even more. I bet on first glance she thought he was just an ordinary, concerned and caring father.

I shook the thoughts out of my head and curled up tighter on the couch. The whole apartment smelled so homey to me and it was very comforting. I knew I could stay here if I really needed to. It was safe enough. Hell knew I wasn't going back to the mausoleum anytime soon. No goddamn way.

I slept for about an hour there on the couch, and woke to a pounding at my front door, and a voice on the other side that sounded angry and restless. I looked to the clock hanging on the wall and according to it, the time was almost 3:34 in the morning. Who the hell was shouting and banging on my door so early in the morning? It wasn't Seto, I knew that right away. I'd be able to sense him and then I'd be able to tell him to fuck off in my head and then maybe he would.

Nah, whoever was banging at my door was human. Very loud, obnoxious and annoying human.

I got up off the couch and sluggishly moved towards the door. I should have peeked out the front window to see who it was, but the thought really hadn't crossed my mind. I opened the door and came face to face with my old man, purple in the face, red in the nose, and all around pissed off.

"What the fuck do you want?" I asked.

Dad stumbled in past me into the living room and I sighed in slight aggravation, closing the door and turning around with my arms crossed to face him. He looked like he had shucked himself out of bed and thrown on whatever was on the floor, and he smelled like alcohol (no real surprise there). He turned himself around and stared at me like a pissed off cat ready to launch into a hissy fit.

"Just where the hell have ya been?" he growled. "I call and call and no answer, I gotta hear from yer goddamn landlady that you've gone missing! You know we thought you were dead?"

I shrugged. "And that bothers you because..?"

He nearly put me to death several times when I was still living with him.

Dad's face got redder than it was, if that's even possible, and I could see the look in his eyes was furious, and if I were still mortal I would have taken off out the front door and ran for dear life. But the bastard could do anything to me now, so I stood there with my arms crossed and scowled right back at him, a pillar that couldn't be knocked down. I rather liked that.

"You know we got the police lookin' for ya?" he slurred. "Three weeks, not a goddamn word! I wanna know what the fuck's been going on and I wanna know right now!"

I shook my head and went into the kitchen. "Dad you're drunk. You want some coffee or...some milk or something? Maybe if I play the role of a decent host you'll get the fuck out of here quicker-"

I pushed my way past Dad and as soon as I came to the kitchen I felt it: Seto's presence, very close by. My hands curled into fists and quietly in my head I warned him to stay the hell away, there was no way I was gonna take his shit as well as my Dad's. No goddamn way in Hell. I continued into the kitchen and opened the fridge door, not really looking for anything, there was nothing in it. Dad's eyes bore into me while I tried to ignore both him and Seto's presence.

Dad followed me into the kitchen, his face purple now with anger. "Are you listening to me? What the fuck's been going on?!"

I closed the fridge door and faced him. His eyes were full of seething anger, I could actually see the blood vessels coursing beneath his skin, and I could hear his temples throbbing. Suddenly I felt the oddest need for a drink, but shook that thought away from my head immediately. I needed something to deter that...but what?

Ah! I opened one of the drawers and fished around through the clutter and found a near-empty pack of cigarettes. Grinning, I pulled one from the pack and stuck it between my lips, and sought for a match. I could feel the old man's eyes boring into me as I checked the other drawers for a book of matches, finally finding some and lighting up.

Christ I missed cigarettes. I don't know why I hadn't thought of them before, after my turning I mean. I smirked as I realized that I couldn't catch cancer from these little fags. Hilarious.

Dragging greedily on the cigarette, I went to walk past Dad, but then he grabbed my arm in what would have been a bone-crushing grip, if I were still human. I paused and looked at him. He was examining me closely.

"What the hell's the matter with you?" he whispered hatefully. "Something's wrong...what the hell's the matter with yer eyes?"

"Nothing's wrong with my eyes, Dad-"

"Something's the matter!" he shouted at me, and he twisted my arm. "Are you on drugs? Huh? Answer me, goddamn it!"

I pulled my arm from his grasp as easily as opening a door, and he stared at me slightly confused for a moment, before I turned to go into the living room to show him the door. No way was I gonna put up with this bullshit anymore. It was too shitty a night for this.

Walking into the living room I stopped dead in my tracks when my eyes connected with Seto's. He stood in the doorway, staring at me intently and I only stared back, my mind becoming fierce with anger for him. I wanted to tell him to go the fuck away but something inside me wouldn't do it. Instead I stood with my hands clutched into fists.

Seto stared at me with a worried expression, but I don't think it was me he was too worried about. I could read his feelings easily enough, he wasn't worried about me. Still there was something odd circulating in those eyes, those blue eyes that once made me weak in the knees whenever I looked upon them now made me growl in fury.

"Who the fuck is this?" Dad slurred, coming up behind me, wiping his mouth and scowling.

"Fuck if I know, Dad." I said, waving my hand at him and dragging on my cigarette. I wouldn't look at Seto a minute longer; he could stand there in the doorway silent for all I cared. But he could suck my cock before I would acknowledge him after what he had said to me. I went and sat down on the sofa, exhaling in ecstacy as the smoke filled my lungs and left it.

"I asked you a question, pretty boy!" Dad snarled at Seto, his temper flaring at the sight of him. "Who the fuck are you?"

I heard Seto snort. "None of your concern. I'm here for Jounouchi."

Ugh, way to go, Seto.

My old man turned on his heel and glared at me. I looked at him out of the corner of my eye, cigarette hanging on my lip. The old dipshit was absolutely red in the face; I could smell the blood raging in those bloated cheeks. Seto, behind him, only looked at me but I wouldn't meet his eyes.

"What the fuck is going on here?" Dad asked rather quietly, and approached me. "Who the fuck is this faggot? A fucking callboy? Is that what's been going on here?"

I turned and glared at him. Gods, if only looks could kill, I would have been rid of my father a long time ago. "Yeah, that's right. That's exactly right. Remember my friend Otogi? He wouldn't fuck me, so I found Seto to do it instead."

I had to admit, I was liking this. Taunting my old man had never been so much fun. Of course now I knew he couldn't beat me to unconsciousness; I was stronger now. So much stronger.

And Dad was livid. His hands curled into fists and then they began to shake, and he rose one as if to examine his knuckles. "Boy you are looking for a mouthful of teeth! Don't you fucking tell me that you're a fucking fairy faggot boy!"

Well I think you can guess what I did. I stood up.

"I'm a fucking fairy faggot boy!"

I heard a crunch, but there was no pain. I had felt the impact, but that was it. My father had punched me square in the jaw, a blow that would have easily broken the bone if I were still human. My cigarette went flying across the room and landed on the hardwood. My jaw wasn't broken. It didn't even hurt.

I turned to look at him, and he stared at me in confusion, as if wondering why his punch hadn't broken my jaw. I smirked. "What's the matter, Pops? Can't punch my lights out so I don't have the voice to scream when you hit me. What are you gonna do now?"

"What the hell..." Dad muttered, pulling back his fist. Seto stood behind him motionless, but I knew that he wasn't just standing there to spite me. He was watching to see what I would do. Watching to see what I had learned. Well I had learned well. I was damn cheeky about it too.

I grinned, delighting in the dumbfounded look on the old man's face, and I raised my arms. "Do it again. Come, what are you waiting for, an invitation?"

This time I watched, and I could feel my powers of celerity surging through me, so powerful that everything slowed, and I could see my old man pull back his arm, and I could see his expression become angrier, and as his fist came forward ever so slowly to land the punch, I merely stepped aside, and he staggered as he punched thin air.

"What the fuck?!" he was getting even more furious now.

I laughed like a little boy; I couldn't help it. This was just so damn amusing. "Dad you're totally tripping out, maybe you should get home."

"Don't you FUCKING TALK THAT WAY TO ME!" He screamed and turned on me in an instant to punch my face. Again, using the vast power of celerity, I was able to duct out of his way, reach up and grab his arm just as he punched air, and I twisted his arm around his back and listened to him cry out in anguish. Then with a great big grin, I stepped down heavily on his shin and heard a crack before the old man went down on both knees. He was screaming in pain when I let him go.

I circled around in front of him with that same goofy smile. "How's it feel Dad? Pretty shitty, ain't it? Now imagine what it must feel like to a kid, you son of a bitch!"

Before I knew it I had brought my fist up against his jaw and down he went toppling to the floor. I reeled back in slight shock, rather unaware of my own strength. I stared at him, a pathetic whelp on the floor crying in pain, and I felt something murderous surge through me. Something strong in my body, unlike anything else I had felt before...wanted the bastard to die right here on this floor.

Seto stepped forward right then. "Jou, no-"

"Why shouldn't I?" I demanded of him, looking up into his beautiful face and scowling hard. "Why shouldn't I do it? I want him dead!"

I looked down at my Dad on the floor, moaning in agony, and all I wanted was to see him suffer. See him ache and cry in pain, just like I had done all those nights so long ago, nursing a broken arm or a dislocated shoulder. See how the fuck he liked it, how he enjoyed the pain! I pulled back my arm to lay a punch at his neck, for I was sure it would hurt harder than anything – but Seto grabbed my arm and stopped me, glaring at me.

"Jou evil-doer or not, if you kill him he will linger with you."

I opened my mouth to spew out all sorts of angry ugly things at him, but when I looked into his eyes I knew that he was right. Despite the fact the bastard had put me through unimaginable pain in my younger years and made me want to die I don't know how many times...he was still my father. If I killed him, the guilt would linger, wouldn't it? Of course it would. Somewhere along the line it would hit me like a ton of bricks and bring him down...

"Goddamn it." I muttered and eased up, smoothing out my wrinkled shirt and pretending as though I never even thought it. I took one last look at Dad, wheezing and moaning in pain on the floor, and I stormed past Seto through the door and into the night air. I wouldn't be coming back here.

Very quietly Seto and I trekked back to the mausoleum, me with my hands shoved in my pockets kicking at things I saw on the sidewalk. I could feel Seto's presence at my back, could hear his footsteps, could feel the burn on his eyes on me, angry that first I had fucked with a human and second run away from his master like an disobedient dog when there were obvious things to discuss. I didn't want to go back to the mausoleum, but where else would I go? If I went to Keith's Seto would no doubt follow me there and then another big scene would erupt!

And Dad's arrival at the apartment ruined that little tidbit of sanctuary that I had for all of two hours.

When we were back at mausoleum I tried my very hardest to snub Seto, but it wasn't working. The space in which we were in was just too small. Immediately upon arrival I went to the coffin and pushed the top off, not winching when it clattered to the floor, like I used to when we first came here, intimating that I wanted to sleep and not have to look at him a moment longer. I heard him come in and move the stone over our secret entrance, and that was when I had had the last of it. Fuck him and his silent treatment, I couldn't take it anymore!

I turned around and glared at him furiously. "Why did you create me if you can't stand me?!" I shouted at him. "Did it ever occur to you that maybe you would love someone before turning them?!"

Seto stared at me with a conflicted expression. His facial expression told me he was angry but his eyes said something completely different, almost apologetic. He sighed slightly and took off his long blue jacket. "Not all of us take on pupils for the sake of love."

Oh...how the hell was that supposed to make me feel? "So what was your reason then, hmm? Pity?"

"What you've endured in your lifetime makes you strong." Seto stated simply. "The strong and the beautiful, they make...the best."

Something changed in Seto's tone of voice. He had gone from matter-of-fact to soft, and I can't determine why. It was obvious he thought that I was strong, and perhaps it's bold to say that he thought I was beautiful. The strong and the beautiful make the best...what, vampires? I shook my head.

And what I endured made me strong? What the hell did that mean? What I endured living with my Dad after my parents divorced? That I endured at all was a fucking miracle, when I look back on it! Yeah sure it made me strong, but the only reason I was strong now was because I was a fucking vampire! Not because of pain! Not because of endurance!

I shook my head at him in disbelief. "How can you possibly know-"

But then I remembered. When I drank from my victims I always saw their past and their memories, the good and the bad. I paused and stood there in shock, and I recounted all the times Seto had taken blood from me when I was still mortal. Good god...he would have seen everything. He would have known everything that had happened...

I looked at Seto in disbelief, but his expression told me everything. He looked cross but maybe he was disappointed about something. I shook my head, unable to take this. What a fucking night it had been.

"Well I don't know why I'm surprised." I said suddenly, completely without thinking it. "After what's happened to me no wonder you won't touch me."

"Again." Seto said quietly. "What you've endured makes you strong."

I nodded. "Yeah, well...try telling that to a twelve-year-old."

I meant to turn my back to him but then I realized something else, and looked at with a stern accusing glare. "Is that why you kept coming back?"

Seto stood there like one of the beautiful stone angels that surrounded us in the cemetery, cold and still, with his eyes firmly on me and then slowly they looked to the floor. I found myself gaping there in disbelief as the realization came over me.

"I...I don't believe it." Suddenly I was on the verge of tears. "You kept coming back to feed...so you could see everything. You kept drinking to go back the years..."

I shut up immediately, because I hated what was coming out of my mouth. Suddenly I understood what it meant. He didn't love me, he probably didn't even like me. He kept feeding on me because he enjoyed watching me being tormented in my memories.

...I hate you for that, Seto.

That was it, there would be no more discussion on the topic. Seto knew everything about me now, it was true. And here I felt so damn vulnerable because I knew absolutely nothing about him. I didn't even know why he changed me into a vampire. He would let go no secrets, I was obviously unworthy of them.

Closing my eyes in slight anguish, I rubbed my temples and sat in the coffin. For some weird reason I wanted to cry but I willed myself not to. I heard Seto sit down in his chair by the desk but he didn't open one of his books like usual. I could feel his gaze on me, hard and perplexed, studying me very intently.

Then I heard him make a sound in his throat, either of woe or misery. "Tomorrow night I'm taking you to the coven."

Those words hurt the worst of all. But as I lay down in the coffin, with the blood tears wetting my eyelashes, I curled up into a fetal position. "Good."

Next chapter: They go to the coven...and guess who they'll meet!

A/N: Ugh...I wish they could just get along! But it's gonna take a little while yet.


	17. Chapter Sixteen

*I do not own these characters. I do not make any money writing this story.*

Chihiro: Part I

Chapter Sixteen

~*~

I didn't sleep very well that night, but I didn't really suspect I would. I feigned sleep when, right before sunrise, Seto had crept into the coffin next to me and pulled the lid over us. I hadn't realized how cramped the coffin was until that night; I felt crowded but I knew Seto wouldn't be interested in even touching me, so I didn't make a big deal about it. But needless to say, I'm sure Seto slept great and I slept badly.

When I woke up Seto was at his desk reading his books. I rose groggily and tried my best to ignore him, but once he saw me rise he closed the book he was reading.

"I want to leave in ten minutes. If you need to feed, do it now."

I snorted and wanted to spit something ugly at him, but what was the point? He was probably going to take me to this coven and leave me there, and that was just fine dandy with me. I couldn't even look at him anymore. I got up out of the coffin and stretched. A feed would definitely be good right about now, but I figured I'd wait til I met the other vampires Seto was talking about that lived in this coven. To be perfectly honest, I was really excited to meet them. And I was excited to be going to a coven instead of staying here.

True to his word, we left to mausoleum ten minutes later. Seto didn't even bother to move the stone back over the entrance, which made me wonder if he was abandoning it for something newer and a little more classy. That wouldn't surprise me, he was getting rid of his fledgling so why not splurge a little and get a big gorgeous apartment? Of course I didn't say this, but I'm sure Seto knew how displeased I was.

He led me through downtown Domino in places I had never seen before. Sure there were the big squares full of the skyscrapers, and then there were the corners where the big clubs and the fancy restaurants and all the cool shops were. But in behind all those things the city became a little darker, and eventually stretched into a really posh residential neighborhood that I didn't even know existed.

Unfortunately we did not go into the really posh residential neighborhood. Nah, we made a left and went into the district with the insurance companies, the printing companies and those creepy little strip malls that are so typically out of place. Ooh, exciting. At least they were well lit.

The one that we came close to was a publishing company, and it was a basic two-level building with lots of lights and big windows. As I looked around I had the strangest feeling that we were being watched. Not that it bothered me, since nothing of this world could possibly hurt me, but it did feel a little eerie. This whole part of the city was eerie.

Seto led the way around the back, where it was dark and there were a few cars parked around. Behind this building was a fairly long dark deserted alleyway, and I could see a flight of stairs that went down into the basement level of this complex. Seto began to descend them, and so I followed.

He knocked on the door three times and we stood there waiting. I tried but could sense next to nothing as we stood there, no flourish of activity, I could hear absolutely nothing, except maybe a cat howling a little ways down the alley. I don't know how long we waited for, but it seemed like eternity til finally I sensed a presence and the door opened for us.

Seto pushed his way inside, and from within I could hear deep voices, and suddenly I was rather nervous. Remember how in middle school you were always so anxious to fit in and please your peers? Well this was kinda like middle school. This was like being dropped off at middle school by your parent.

I looked in through the door and found a dark hallway that twisted immediately to the left. My instincts were to follow Seto inside, even though the place sorta gave me the creeps. Cautiously I made my way in through the door and walked a little down the hall, trying to get a sense of the other vampires here.

Suddenly the door slammed shut behind me, and I heard a booming voice say. "Sooo you must be Kaiba's new suck-head."

Startled outta my fucking mind, I spun around on my heel and came face to face with a gorgeous Arabic vampire, with deep violet eyes staring right at me, and a little smirk on his beautiful face. I felt my jaw literally drop open as I took in the sight of him: masterfully toned body with perfect fitting clothes to do it justice, and sandy blond hair that just melted with his skin. He had what looked almost like tribal tattoos on the outer sides of his eyes. I couldn't stop staring at him, he blew me away.

The vampire pulled away from the door and came towards me in a sexy stride, sticking out his hip as he stopped in front of me and gave another sexy grin. "You're a hot little thing, and Kaiba's leaving you here?"

He approached me fluently, moving so elegantly for such a largely built person, and his eyes narrowed almost hungrily. My blood was beginning to get hot the more he stared at me.

"Marik, cut it out." Seto snapped as he appeared around the corner, probably wondering why I wasn't following him into the hallway. I looked at him over my shoulder and Seto was frowning. "Leave it to you to scare him off within the first five seconds that he's been here."

This vampire Marik let out a great booming laugh. "Whatever you say Kaiba."

Seto disappeared and I moved to follow, right as the vampire Marik slung a hard muscled arm around my shoulders. He towered over me a good head and a half, and walked quite gracefully.

"Good to see Kaiba's still got a stick up his ass." Marik said delightfully as we followed Seto into the hall. "I'd miss him if some hot piece of ass made him the mushy sort, you know what I mean?"

I didn't know what to say in response to that, so I kept my mouth quiet, and took in the surroundings, but all it was was a long dark hallway lit every so often with overhead lights. Ahead of us was Seto, walking tall and...well, yeah. Quite like he had a stick shoved up his ass. I snickered to myself as I registered the thought of that properly in my head.

After a moment, Marik spoke again. "When were you first turned, goldie?"

I swallowed, and upon realizing that he was talking to me, struggled to respond. "Three weeks ago."

"Three weeks?!" He let out that booming laughter. "You're just a newborn."

I paused as a chilling laughter broke out in the hall, seemingly right in my ear. I stopped, because I felt the actual need to stop walking, and Marik stood at my side totally nonchalant, like hearing a weird eerie laughter in a hallway of three vampires was completely normal.

I looked around anxiously for this fourth voice, this sinister laughter, and when I looked over my shoulder I came face to face with another vampire, with the deepest, darkest brown eyes I had ever peered into. He had snow white hair, actual white hair, and stood about my height. He too, was perfectly wonderful to look at. Somehow he had a less sinister look about him than Marik did.

Marik's arm slithered from my shoulders, and he stuck his hands on his hips with a smile, just as this other vampire crossed his arms and grinned. "Hungry for a three-week newborn? You're such a pedophile."

Marik laughed loudly. "You're telling me you wouldn't wanna?"

This other vampire looked me straight in the eye and shook his head. "Nah, he's not my type."

Marik nudged me with his elbow. "Bakura likes to fornicate with humans. Fucking disgusting, if you ask me, fucking your food. Did you have sex with cattle when you were human?"

This vampire, Bakura, his smile was gone in an instant. "Had you ever seen a cow when you were human, Marik? I hear they don't do so well in the dark."

Marik rolled his eyes, and whispered to me. "I've been trying to get him staked for years."

I looked at Bakura a little more closely. I liked the look of him, he had a slender frame, a little more effeminate then Marik, but in a really sexy way. I knew right away that if I had encountered him when I was human, I wouldn't have thought twice about sleeping with him. Hell, if I had encountered either of them when I was human, I wouldn't have thought twice. Even if I knew they were gonna suck on my neck, it wouldn't have mattered.

Marik turned me around and we started to walk down the hall again. I noticed we were coming to the end of it, and it turned a corner. Golden light was coming in from around that corner. I was very curious to see what it led to.

"Where's Stick-Man? Already here?" Bakura asked as we walked along the hallway.

Marik snorted. "Sure is, why? D'ya miss him?"

"Who ever misses him? Its not like he lights up a room with his charming personality."

When we turned the corner, we came into a large open room, fully furnished with dark carpeting and furniture. It looked like the house of a fucking rock musician. Leather couches, a great big running fountain towards the back, that leaked into a pool in the ground underneath a set of stairs that led to who knows where. Lights from the ceiling, glass everywhere. I couldn't believe this room, it was just incredible, it was...unlike anything I had ever seen.

And there was Seto, talking to...Yugi?

I blinked a few times and rubbed my eyes, and then I realized that no, it was not Yugi. But someone who looked a helluva lot like Yugi Moto from high school. Same goofy hairstyle, same eyes, same demeanor...sorta. The more I looked at this Yugi lookalike, I noticed how hard he looked. But I also realized that he was just about twice as gorgeous as Marik and Bakura...and that's a shit load of gorgeousness.

Seto looked at us over his shoulder as we came stomping in. Bakura and Marik went to sit down at one of the leather couches, while I stood there in the middle of the room with my jaw hanging open, like some dumbfounded little kid. Soon as Seto looked at me, so did this Yugi lookalike, and his gaze on me gave me the shivers.

Then I realized that...oh my god! I had seen this guy before! Yeah...I saw him at a bar that time with...with Otogi and Honda! He was sitting at the table next to us! He fucking smiled at me!

I opened my mouth to confirm the accusation, but Seto spoke for me. "Jounouchi's had a run in with his mortal father, I think it would be wise to keep him inside for a week or two, until things calm down."

"Hmm, agreed." said the Yugi look-a-like, never taking his magenta eyes away from me. He held me in that stare for a long time, so it seemed. Not even when Bakura and Marik were pushing and shouting at each other on the leather couch could I steal my eyes away from him.

Then the Yugi look-a-like came towards me. He was a little shorter than me, and was quite thin, but that didn't even touch the masterfulness in his eyes and his expressions. He extended his hand and I took it in mine, and he shook it. "Jounouchi, I am Yami. Welcome to my coven."

I swallowed and looked at Seto, but Seto only stared at me in a sort of warning. As though to say 'don't you dare ruin your chances of getting in here', like it were some sort of posh college and I was meeting the headmaster who would make or break my admission.

So I respectfully bowed to Yami. "Thank you for having me, Yami."

The vampire Yami smiled, quite pleased, and released my hand. "You are welcome to stay in the coven as long as you like, or however long you feel is necessary. It is open to you at all times, and at all hours of the day."

He then looked over to the couch, where Bakura and Marik were sitting. "I assume you've already met Marik Ishtar and Bakura. They've been looking forward to your arrival."

Marik and Bakura were busy fighting over a cigarette, so they probably didn't hear what Yami had even said. But the vampire didn't care, he only smiled that same daunting smile as he turned his attention back to me.

"Well...I understand that Seto must be on his way." Yami said, nodding respectfully to Seto. "I'll give you a moment."

I watched Yami walk away, towards the steps, and with a hand he beckoned Marik and Bakura, who stood and followed just like that. I watched them as they left, wanting them to stay. I didn't want to remain in the same room with Seto, as I was still furious with him.

And now I was even more furious, as the realization of it all settled. Much as I liked the place, and much as I knew these three vampires were going to be better company than Seto ever was, he was still just gonna leave me here. I turned and looked up at Seto, who had a look of such innocence in his face that I just wanted to tear it off. "You're leaving me here, aren't you?"

Seto took in a deep breath and let it out. His eyes left mine for a moment, as if feeling guilty, but then he just shrugged. "It's a precaution."

I shook my head, as the hurt started to build up in me again. Hurt because I knew that Seto didn't really love me. He didn't love me and now he was going to leave me here with these strange vampires that I didn't even know. "So you created me to abandon me?"

Seto finally looked at me. I still love those blue eyes of his, and even though I was pissed, I couldn't help but calm down a little after looking into his eyes. But I knew what his answer was going to be, and I hated him for it.

"When I've relocated, I will tell Yami." Seto said seriously. "And then you'll know where to find me."

And that was it. He turned and left to go down the hall in which we had just come. I turned and watched him leave, thinking any minute down he would stop, turn around and tell me to follow. But he didn't. He wasn't going to take any responsibility for what he had done, in creating me I mean. He was just going to leave me here with these other vampires and disappear into the night.

Suddenly I knew what it must have felt like to be a kid put up for adoption.

I felt the anger boiling up inside me. My blood was on fire. I curled my hands into fists and they shook as Seto left the room, and when he was finally gone from sight I wanted to punch something, or kick something, or scream as loud as I possibly could. But I did neither of these things. I watched Seto go, out the door, out of my undead life.

~*~

"Kaiba's not leaving you here, you fucking dolt!" Marik boomed with laughter. "Covens are safe houses. He put you here for safe keeping."

It was a half hour since Seto left. I had gotten the grand tour of the coven. For a seemingly abandoned warehouse, the place was huge. It had twisting tunnels that led into the most beautifully furnished rooms, and doors upon doors that led to mysterious new places that you would see once and never see again. Apparently, after the bombing of Hiroshima, the coven was built as a safe house by Yami and a few companions, in case Domino would ever be bombed. Forget the fact that vampires can survive anything, but I guess they just didn't want to take their chances.

The coven was also built to comfortably accommodate up to fifteen vampires, but for the time being there was only us four. When I asked why that was, Bakura, who was slouched on a long leather couch, merely shrugged.

"Vampires don't stick around these little cities anymore, they head for Tokyo. Or Osaka. The big cities where there's infinite food and infinite entertainment."

We were sitting in one of the living rooms. I say "one of" because this place has like, nineteen of them, all furnished the same, the next one bigger than the last. They had the same general theme to them, a dark decor, dark carpeting and wall colours, even the furniture was dark, except for some rooms in which the furniture was bright cherry red, red like blood, I guess. We all had different rooms for our coffins, which I liked. I had a feeling that in the days to come I would need some alone time, and a room of my own was the perfect place to do it in.

"He's left me here to keep me safe?" I asked as I dragged on a cigarette that Bakura had offered me. "Why does he have to keep me safe?"

Marik and Bakura looked at each other and shrugged. "Listen, better you hear this from us than...some secondary source. Kaiba's a little nuts about hunters."

"Hunters?" I asked, frowning. "Yeah...you know he mentioned hunters a lot when I was first embraced."

Bakura snorted loudly and dragged on his cigarette. "Kaiba thinks they're always on his trail, waiting til he's alone and then BAM! They stake him."

Marik scowled at Bakura. "Yeah, BAM! Cause apparently getting staked is like getting hit by a bus."

"Oh fuck it." Bakura snarled, waving a hand at Marik and getting up off the couch. "I'm done talking to you."

Marik shook his head. "Sure thinks highly of himself, don't he? Hunters always after him, why are they always after him? There's plenty of us waltzing around downtown at this hour."

"I don't know." Bakura muttered sharply in reply, and took another drag on his cigarette.

This got me to thinking. Seto's uptight about hunters, so he puts me, his newborn childe, into a safe house. Did he know something I didn't? Perhaps there were hunters that knew we were at the mausoleum, and that was why he moved us so suddenly. But then...why wasn't Seto here with me, staying here at the coven? If only for a night. No, apparently he just couldn't stand me and would rather risk the rising sun than a night in the same coven with his childe.

I sighed angrily, blowing the smoke out through my nostrils. It was then I realized that I hadn't seen Yami since I first got there. I looked around, thinking maybe he was in the same room with us and was just being dead quiet. But he wasn't.

"Where's Yami at?" I asked after a little while.

"Who knows." Marik said, waving his hand. "Sometimes you see him, sometimes you don't. He works his own way, that one."

"Hmm." I made a little noise in my throat, as Bakura and Marik went onto a new subject in which to get mad about and call each other names over, and I thought more and more about that night I saw Yami in the bar. It was more than coincidence, how is it he just showed up someplace a few weeks before I became a vampire by a sire that he apparently knew quite well?

Maybe there was something fishy going on here and I just didn't see it because I was too upset over Seto's blunt refusal of me to piece everything together. But the more I thought of it, the more exasperated I got, and eventually the more tired. When I next looked up, it was nearly sunrise.

~*~

I didn't sleep right away. There was a nice bed and a seating area in the huge room I had been given. The coffin was in the walk-in closet, and to be used at my leisure, but the room didn't have windows, so I could stay awake the whole damn day if I so pleased. I wasn't going to, but that's besides the point.

I don't know how many cigarettes I smoked since I got here. I didn't really like it here. Well...I did, but I didn't like the thought that Seto totally just left me here without a care in the world. Then again, maybe I was being too hard on him. Maybe there really were hunters hot on his trail, and in the best interest of protecting his weak little newborn childe, he put me here with these seemingly more powerful vampires, just in case the hunters got wind of what was going on.

I knew it would be impossible for hunters to find this place. I took quite a bit of pride in that, snickering actually. Humans weren't as smart as they thought they were, really. It was a liberating feeling.

About two hours after sunrise, I took off my shirt and thought about getting ready for bed, when the door opened. I looked up, a nearly-finished cigarette hanging on the edge of my lip, and watched as Yami came inside, with a fierceness in his eyes I have never seen before.

"I know you're troubled, Jounouchi." He said as he came inside, and all I could do was watch him. He really was very stunning. "Perhaps I can offer you...answers."

At that moment, for the first time in a long time, I felt as though I were visible again.

~*~

Next chapter: Hmm...undecided. Are lemons still forbidden on this site? ;)


	18. Chapter Seventeen

Chihiro: Part I

Chapter Seventeen

~*~

Yami came inside slowly, his strong violet eyes fixed on me, and I felt myself shudder under his gaze. This was what it was like, I knew at that moment, to be in the presence of a very strong vampire. His aura was extremely powerful, perhaps moreso than Seto's, and it made my blood a little hot.

I took the cigarette from my lips and blew smoke from my dead lungs as Yami sauntered closer and sat on one of the leather chairs close to where I was sitting. He sat with such eloquence, he really did take pride in his immortal nature. It was inspiring.

"You must be rather confused, and since your rather...abrupt parting with Seto Kaiba, I didn't think he took the time to properly explain to you about my coven."

I swallowed, and realized quite suddenly that I was without a shirt. I didn't think Yami cared, but I reached for my discarded shirt and pulled it onto my shoulders, without bothering to button it up. Yami watched me carefully, with the smallest hint of a smile on his lips, and he sat back in the chair even further.

"I guess I could use a bit of a 411." I said rather quietly. "Seto didn't exactly say much."

Yami's expression fell. "Yes, he's always been a rather...distant type. He told me you've had a recent encounter with your biological mortal father."

I sighed heavily. "Yeah..."

Yami made an unapproving sound in his throat. "Hmm...when we're identified by those we knew before the embrace, it is imperative we...take care of having our kind realized." Yami's eyes darkened considerably. "Does your father have any idea about your...condition?"

I snorted. "No, the old man was drunk. He won't even remember he saw me by the time he sobers up."

Yami looked disapproving. "Nevertheless, it's surprising to me that Seto would have...well, to put it frankly...let him live."

I didn't like where this conversation was going. I know I was fairly close to killing my father myself, but I didn't want to talk about him anymore. "I don't plan to see my father ever again. It won't be a problem."

With a slight scowl, Yami pressed his fingertips together and looked at me quizzically for a few minutes. He looked incredible like that, with a stern look about his face, it made me want to know more about him, everything about him. He was so mysterious, so strong and powerful and mysterious...

"I suppose I should continue to tell you more about this coven." Yami said, interrupting my thoughts. "For now there are only four of us here, but I have always opened my doors to friends and acquaintances. You may find there are more of us in Domino than you once believed."

I smirked. Wasn't that the truth.

"Now just so you are aware, there are a few rules you must abide by if I am going to allow you to stay here in my coven." Yami's voice became hard and serious. "One, you must never reveal the location of the coven to anyone, kindred or kine. If you do, it will compromise the safety of all those who inhabit it. Two, if you would please refrain from bringing kine here with the intent to drink from them and kill them. There was a bit of a problem concerning..." he quieted for a moment. "Bodies...between Marik and Bakura's ferocious appetites."

I smiled and nodded. "I understand completely."

Yami nodded in reply. "Good. A third rule, if you find or think you are being pursued by hunters, or any other form of malevolence against you, call to your brothers here at the coven. We live and fight together, you should never take on a hunter by yourself."

There was a fairly easy one to follow.

"Perhaps there's something you'd like to request of me." Yami said suddenly. "Any questions you may have I would be willing to answer. Perhaps you have questions...about Seto?"

I thought briefly for a moment, and then I slid closer towards him on my bed. "Nah, Seto doesn't concern me anymore."

It was true. The bastard pretty much abandoned me here, there was no damn way I was going to ask about him and let him have the satisfaction of knowing I was still desperately in love with him. Besides...maybe Yami would make for suitable distraction.

I leaned forward, maybe a little more forward than I should have. "Why did he bring me here? Is this the only coven in town?"

Yami smiled. "Of course not, but Seto Kaiba and I have a bit of a...history together. When he told me he was worried for the safety of his new childe, I was certainly not going to deny you simple protection."

"But why was he worried for my safety? Were there hunters following us?"

Yami sighed heavily, and looked away from me as though trying to contemplate what he would say next. "I believe so, but with Kaiba it's difficult to tell. If you haven't noticed, he has a bit of paranoia towards hunters."

"Why is that?"

Yami opened his mouth as though to explain, but then something in his eyes changed, and instead he gave me one hell of a sexy smile. "That's...too long a story for tonight. And you're still so young, I don't believe it's something one as young as you has to trouble himself with."

I planned to argue about this but instead I thought about it and paused. I was tired, this had been a rather eventful day already, despite the fact I wanted to hear anything Yami would tell me about Seto's history.

Yami stood up elegantly, and I stared at him from where I sat. How could someone possess such an incredible disposition of dominance? It radiated from him, power and strength. The alpha male, the one to make all decisions, the leader. I had never known anyone quite like that before.

"If you find that you are thirsty when you wake," Yami said, interrupting my train of thought. "Marik and Bakura are prepared to go hunting with you at dusk...unless you want to go alone."

As I stared at Yami, I wondered what it would be like to watch him feed...from a gorgeous young man, maybe. Fangs sinking into a soft neck and drinking in full, strong strides. I felt an unexpected twitch in my crotch, while I thought about those big ruby eyes staring right at me while he drank from someone. He made me feel small...but in a good way, like he was the most powerful between us, and I didn't mind that.

But Yami seemed undeterred by my constant gawking at him. He gave me a humble smile, and nodded. "I'll leave you to sleep. Again, welcome to my coven."

And he turned his back to me and left the room.

~*~

I was exhausted, so once alone I took off my clothes, closed all the doors and went to the walk-in closet, where a large coffin was sitting in wait for me. A coffin of my own, what luxury...I wouldn't have to squeeze in with Seto and have to listen to him having nightmares all day long. The coffin lining was soft and silky on my skin, and once I was in I nearly fell right asleep. I brought down the lid and closed my eyes.

My thoughts were plagued with Yami. Not since Seto had I met anyone who had this kind of effect on me. I was a sucker for his obvious dominance over me, his strength and prestige over me, and while maybe I would have felt threatened by it in a past life, I felt thrilled by it now.

As I lay there, with my thoughts on Yami, I began to think about what he looked like...naked. A firm sturdy body, for sure, with pale skin. I thought about what it would be like to have him in bed, for him to pin me down to the blankets, look over me with those fierce eyes of his, take complete control over me. I imagined he would be a hard kisser, and a harder lover, taking what he wanted all at once with little to no time for preparation.

Turning onto my back I slowly let my right hand fall to my crotch and I started to tickle myself lightly. So you know what happens next...cue the fantasy.

I pictured Yami looking down at me with those intense, gorgeous eyes. The expression on his face just glowed irresistibly. Was I lying in my coffin? I've never had coffin sex before, but I imagine having sex in a closed space would either be fairly intense or fairly suffocating. Oh what the hell, I'm in my coffin, lying on my back, and Yami's looming over me.

He doesn't have a shirt on, so I'm free to look at his lithe but built upper body. I feel his hand sweep over my crotch and I bite down on my lip. Gods his touch was hard but it was so good. I feel him bend over me, biting the zipper on my shirt and dragging it down. All I can do is lie here and enjoy it. And boy oh boy, maybe it was just a fantasy, but I was sure enjoying myself.

Cold air hits my cold skin when my shirt falls open but I don't care, it's welcome against this sudden warmth. Then my mind really springs into action when Yami next grips the zipper of my pants and pulls it down tantalizingly slow. I can't help but groan, I know where he's going next.

With his thumbs hooked into my boxers, he pulls them down and finally – egads my erection is free, and I'm so relieved. I look up in time to see Yami lick his lips and go down, and that's when my head really explodes.

I started to pump my erection, trying hard to believe it's his mouth, Yami's mouth on me. His mouth....gods it's so hot on me, and he's so good at it. Moving up and down, slowly and then fast, while his fingers tickle my balls. My hands grip the fabric on the coffin beneath me, it's so fucking good, and I know I won't last long but for now it didn't seem to matter.

I moan loudly as he continues, his starfish hair bobbing with his head motions, both hands touching me wherever they can. I arch my back, loving the attention, moaning so loudly I'm sure the entire coven can hear me.

Yami withdraws and I whimper from the loss of the heat, and watch as he licks his lips as if savoring a special treat. Then he unbuckles his leather pants.

Pumping faster, I struggled to hold onto the fantasy. He opens my legs and positions them there. I let my head fall back as I ready for his entry. I know its gonna hurt, so I brace myself.

He enters me in one smooth stride, groaning in his throat as he does it. I bite down on my lip and endure. The pain's not as bad as I thought it would be, but Yami's large for someone of his height. He lets me settle, and then he grips my knee and my thigh and pulls out and pushes back in.

I moan aloud; my orgasm was so close, I could feel it. He continues a rhythm, pulling out and pushing in, his purple eyes fix on me, and I arch my neck and simply enjoy this plunder on my body. He rocks me back with every thrust. He pulls out and then he pushes back in and I moan.

I felt my orgasm gather and it was on top of me in a second. Grasping my erection hard and stiffened, let open my lips as it washed over me, and let out a choked moan. "Oh gods Seto..."

It lasted a good five seconds, and I collapsed into my coffin and closed my eyes, ready to surrender to sleep. But something bothered me as I pulled my hand away from my softening cock. Who the hell was I kidding, Yami was damn sexy...but I was still in love with Seto. Still in love with Seto...and I hated it.

~*~

A little bit of time went by...actually I think it was a month, and I stayed in the coven very comfortably. Marik and Bakura were great, despite the fact that sometimes they weren't great together, they were good guys, if you know what I'm saying, for blood suckers and all that. At first I didn't take to feeding with them, I preferred to go alone, but then after awhile I went with them to the various clubs and bars and watched them seduce poor innocent fools and convince them to accompany them to the bathroom or to the alley. They worked like magicians these two, you know they're professional vampires, they've been doing it for years. They were wicked fun, and after awhile, every night we were all going out to feed, the three of us, like a vampire posse. I gotta admit, it'd been awhile since I felt I had some real friends, and with these two I gotta say, these two felt like friends.

I very rarely saw Yami, but that was probably just as well. It was really no good I was jacking off just about every night to fantasies of him, it would only make it awkward if I saw him in the coven. But I didn't, I saw him that first night I came to the coven and after that, poof! Never saw him. I don't know if he stayed in the coven all night and day, or if he had other places to hide during the day that he escaped to so he wouldn't have to hear Marik and Bakura's constant arguing. It didn't really bother me, I knew he probably wouldn't be seen if he didn't want to be seen.

And I didn't see Seto. Although I wanted to see Seto. I wanted to see Seto so badly.

I wondered if all newly embraced vampires go through this separation anxiety that I was going through. This was the longest I had gone without seeing Seto, and I really hadn't seen him for about a month. I couldn't sense his presence, not even when I was out in the night, feeding or walking about, I couldn't sense him anywhere and I couldn't smell him. Once I went back to the graveyard and stared at the mausoleum but I knew instantly that he wasn't there. Where could he have gone? Did he flee the city and leave me here? I bet he didn't pine for me like I was pining for him.

I wanted to ask Marik and Bakura about it, but they never talked about their sires, my guess was that they either left or were left by their sires and they had both long since forgotten about it. I don't really know how old they are, I didn't think it polite to ask, but I knew from the smell of them that they weren't brand new pups like me, and therefor probably didn't have the same need for their sires like I did.

Life went by kinda slow, but I didn't mind it. I enjoyed the coven and I really liked Marik and Bakura's company, especially when feeding. I was out every night enjoying myself, and I had a safe, beautiful place to stay. Life was good.

But then of course...my need for Seto got the better of me. I guess this is kinda where the story gets interesting.

~*~

A month and two weeks after Seto left me at the coven, I went out that night after feeding with Marik and Bakura. We headed into downtown, the two of them in their most expensive silk shirts and leather pants, and me in whatever I could muster. Note to self, get more clothes when you get more money.

"Look at us, three hot pieces of the hottest ass around! Who wouldn't wanna get it on with one of us?" Marik boomed as he smacked our backs as we walked along. Marik's booming voice always startles me, always!

Bakura, who was just in the middle of lighting up, shoved Marik's arm away from him. "Get off me, numb nuts! I swear to Rah, you do anything to sabotage me tonight and I'll fucking stake you with my fucking whiskey shot glass!"

"Sabotage what, seducing kine?" Marik laughed as he too lit up. "Fucking perverted, if you ask me." and he handed me the pack of cigarettes.

Another interesting thing about these two: Bakura likes to fuck humans, and Marik does not. The whole thing about fucking your food not being very appealing, I guess. I was glad that they hadn't pointed the matter to me, personally I didn't mind a little fuck before the blood, but I didn't want to lose favor with these guys so soon after arriving.

It was Friday, and the city was totally alive. We wandered into the big business skyscraper district, we were looking for one of those fancy nightclubs where we could slip in, have a drink, and slip out real quiet like, not draw any real attention, and then wander off to the next nightclub and do the same thing, til we were full and ready to call it a night.

We walked, puffed on our smokes, and about five minutes in the silence was broken when Bakura asked what I had been thinking about all damn night:

"So Jou, you pining for Kaiba yet?"

I looked at him in surprise. Bakura's got this real nasty look about him sometimes, like...holy, he's hot, but he gives you that grin and the narrowing of his chocolate eyes, and you get this chill down your spine because you suddenly realize that he's saying exactly what you're thinking and it scares the shit out of you.

Marik, on the other hand, was slightly less non-chalant about it. "You so are not fucking pining for Kaiba, are ya?"

I shrugged, sucking on the smoke in my lips. "I dunno, maybe a little."

"Don't pull off that shit, Marik." Bakura snapped. "I remember when you came to the coven, right after your sire got staked, you were crying like a pussy."

"Crying and pining are two different things, asshole." Marik pointed out.

I smirked. What the fuck were these two gonna fight about next? Nobody knows.

We wandered downtown for almost an hour before we finally came across this one club, _Acid_ I think it was called. It was one of those clubs where you can hear the music pounding from two blocks away, and of course they don't allow smoking inside so there's a crowd of smokers standing around outside once you get close enough.

Needless to say one look at Marik and the bouncers at the door didn't see any reason why we should be standing outside when we could have been dancing inside, so he let us in right away, much to the chagrin of the people waiting, which I got a kick out of. It'd been awhile since I'd been in a club, I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed them. The darkness, the lights, the music, the bar, the people dressed to look their finest...this is one of the best places for a vampire, you can hear everything in all corners of the room and watch kine touch and kiss and slap and growl at each other. I never realized how entertaining it was.

The three of us made a beeline for the bar, which was crowded and the three of us knew we weren't gonna drink if we ever got served, so I got a seat while Bakura and Marik leaned against the bar, observing their surroundings.

"I'm gonna dance," Bakura announced quite suddenly, but before either of us could say anything he took off and disappeared into the crowd.

Marik watched him go, and then he sat and just stared at the crowd, slowly shaking his head. "You see the way he goes after them? Like flies to shit, I'm telling ya. And I don't know where the fuck he gets it."

I shrugged, not really paying attention. I enjoyed the atmosphere, I liked looking at the dancing humans under the bright lights, and I liked looking at the long line of multi-coloured bottles behind the bar. Marik finally sat down on the empty stool next to me, slumping over the bar and eyeing the bottles as though he hadn't seen one in years.

"Listen, about what I said earlier..." Marik started, drawing my attention abruptly. "We all go on pining for our sires, especially after the first few months of the embrace. I was just razzing ya."

I smiled, glad that Marik had swallowed his pride in the matter to make me feel a little better. "Did you pine for your sire too?"

At that remark Marik snorted loudly. "Un-fucking-fortunately, that little piece of shit, couldn't get him out of my head for a good four years after my embrace."

"Four years?" I was saying it before I could tell myself to shut up and not repeat it. How the fuck would I go on pining after Seto for another four years?

"Well...is there any way you can stop it from happening?" I asked timidly.

Marik shrugged. "Nope. It's in the blood."

In the blood...of course, because Seto's blood was in my veins. My blood called for his blood now, and it would for another four years. Fuck, how the hell was I going to manage another four years of feeling miserable like this?

After awhile Marik got up and went onto the dance floor, leaving me by myself. To keep the bartender from kicking me out of my seat, I ordered a beer from him and didn't even touch it when he gave it to me. I tapped my fingernails on the bar and stared at the multi-coloured bottles stacked in lines in front of me.

Suppose I didn't see Seto for another four years, and I'd be totally unable to quench this feeling of hopelessness? What the hell was I going to do? I suppose the best way to get rid of this feeling was to see Seto, and I wanted to see Seto more than anything. But something about seeing him nagged at me. Why would I go crawling back to the vampire who admitted he never loved me? Why would I give him that sick satisfaction?

Bakura and Marik seemed to completely disappear, and I stayed at the bar fingering the neck of the beer bottle and sighing heavily, thinking about Seto and thinking about ways to survive without seeing Seto. The whole of the evening was gonna be pretty uneventful, but then about eleven o'clock, I ran into someone I wasn't expecting. Mind you I didn't know who she was, so how could I expect to run into her?

I noticed her eyeing me quite severely from the other end of the bar. It was fairly dark but I could see her clearly. She was a very sexy blonde, I mean she was so sexy she could have been a model. It felt like time stopped for a moment there, because as soon as I saw her I just stared at her. She was absolutely gorgeous. I had meant to just glance at her and then pretend as though I were ignoring her, but for some reason I just stopped and stared at her.

But what was curious was that she stared back at me with those large, harrowing violet eyes of hers. On her perfect little ruby lips she started to smile, but the way her eyes narrowed to me, she looked like a cat, and I was the bird. You know that look.

Slightly unnerved, but not totally, I took a moment and looked her up and down, as best I could from down the bar, you know. She was dressed in a tight little sleeveless black cocktail dress, and around her neck hung a silver crucifix on a black rope. As soon as I saw that crucifix, something inside me told me there something not quite right with this chick Hot as she was, there was something about her that just wasn't right...

We stared at each other for another moment, she with that same smile. Suddenly, with the music loud in my ear, she picked up her pink drink, scooted off the bar stool she was sitting on, and started to walk towards me. I watched her, she had long milky white legs, she looked absolutely fantastic in that little black dress. She excited me but in the back of my mind something was irking me about her.

She came and sat right next to me, smiling that little smile, and she set her drink down on the bar. "How's it going, blondie?"

Her voice was deep and throaty and sexy. She was drop dead gorgeous, she really was. I gotta say, the closer she sat, and the more I could smell her perfume, the more my skin kinda...tingled, you know how that goes. I looked her up and down, as discreetly as I could y'know. She started to finger the stem of her glass, and stared at me with that same sexy smile.

Finally I nodded, eased a little smile. "Things are going. You?"

She grinned, showing off pearly whites. "I've never seen you around here before."

I shrugged. "New to the area, kinda."

She nodded, full-bodied blonde curls bobbing with her head motion. Her blonde hair was a fake blonde, I think it was dyed, but it looked great either way. She had the most perfect skin, like a white plum, and when I looked real carefully, I could see the blood streaming under her skin. And her lips...deep red and they looked so wet and kissable...

"So," she interrupted, again fingering the stem of her glass and crossing her legs, and I pulled my head out of my ass. "Those guys you came in with...friends of yours?"

I looked up and around the room, really just for a moment to think of something witty to say, but I couldn't see either Marik or Bakura anywhere in sight. I shrugged and nodded. "Yeah, they're friends. They drive me crazy but they're friends. You uh..." I scratched my head. "...Interested in one of them?"

She gave me a naughty little smile. "No blondie...just you."

I gave her a smile back, and leaned forward to get a better whiff of her perfume, and she leaned forward and gave me a sexy little smile.

But then she said: "Just you...and your sire."

The excitement of the situation was short-lived when I realized she had said 'sire'. I paused, pulled back and eyed her. Her expression remained unchanged.

"Sire?"

Her eyes narrowed and became a little more serious, and her smile fainted just slightly. "Yes...your sire Seto Kaiba."

I looked again to the crucifix, and suddenly something in my brain finally clicked. She knew Seto, and she knew me as Seto's childe...but she was human.

Jesus Christ...was she a hunter?

The woman laughed, obviously delighted by my new revelation, and the stupid look on my face. "Why the shock? Well, I guess I shouldn't be surprised. You look brand new."

I frowned, sitting back and turning defensive. "What's it to you?"

She ignored the question, returned it with another question. "How long ago did he turn you?"

I shrugged. "Two months."

Her mouth fell open in shock. "Two months? You're just a baby!" and then she shook out her blonde hair again as she laughed. "What a shame. A real shame. Where's your master at, sweetheart?"

I knew then. She was definitely a hunter. I remembered everything...everything about the hunters. Yami telling me that Seto was wary of hunters, Marik and Bakura telling me that Seto had a thing about the hunters. Seto himself telling me about hunters! It wasn't just superstition, there were hunters after him, and one was staring right at me.

I shook my head at her, trying to give her the impression that I hadn't seen Seto in a month, which was the truth but I had a feeling she wouldn't believe me if I told her. "I don't know. I don't care."

"No?" but then she shrugged, as though it were no surprise. "Well Kaiba never was much of a people person. Tell me something, will he come after me if I kill you?"

It was apparent to me then that this hunter would kill me if it meant finding Seto. Suddenly it wasn't about killing Seto, it was about killing Seto's childe to draw Seto out. But would Seto go after her if she managed to kill me?

I shrugged again, not to dissuade her, but because I really didn't know the answer to that question. "I doubt it."

She reached down, and pulling up her short little cocktail dress she revealed a belt wrapped around her thigh with long silver stakes tucked into hoops to hold them in place. I watched her as she pulled one from the hoop smoothly and held it securely in her hand, looking at me as though she were getting ready to stab me, which was probably what was coming.

"Only one way to find out." she said. And she came at me.

~*~

Next chapter: A fight. Kudos and hugs to anyone who can guess who the blonde is (as if it wasn't obvious :P )


	19. Chapter Eighteen

**Chihiro Part I**

**Chapter Eighteen**

**~*~**

Now its fairly clear Seto isn't gonna win sire of the year, but hell I'm damn glad he taught me to use celerity, because without it this blonde huntress would have staked me right then and there in the bar. As she lunged I launched into the celerity. I could distinctly see the hunter in her eyes, fierce and determined. How had I not sensed it? Having jumped off the bar stool, I sped around her. Her blonde hair seemed to pause in mid air as she reached out with the silver spike. She fell onto the bar stool and let out an aggravated sound, whipping her head around to glare at me, violet eyes full of hate, searing into my skin with such fury.

I stood and stared at her, what else could I do? Nobody said anything about what to do in the event of encountering a hunter. I contemplated just running for it, could I? Maybe if I screamed for Marik and Bakura they would come running to help. All around me no one seemed to notice that there was a crazy bitch going at me with a silver spike. I contemplated what to do: run for it, or stay and fight.

But then there was no time. The huntress gathered herself, and from out of nowhere I watched her pull a gun and either unwittingly or purposefully, fire it into the air. The next moment I was surrounded by screaming.

Bodies pushed against me while I moved away from the bar, against the crowd. Another shot of the gun and then the sound of pain, but I didn't stop. I moved towards the back of the club as people ran out, screaming. In the flash of the crowd she was following me, determined to kill me.

I contemplated what to do, keep running or stop and stand up to her. Could I stop her?

In only a matter of minutes, the club was empty, we were the only ones left, there on the dance floor. Frantically I looked around for Bakura and Marik. Where the hell did they go?

She flipped her hair and gave another aggravated sigh. "An educated childe, surprising."

There was nothing I could use. Nothing in sight. She fired at me once and missed. The bullet sped past me and embedded itself into the far wall behind me. But I could smell it, hot silver, and even the smell of it made my skin crawl. I knew full contact with one of those would be bad news.

Launching into celerity once again, I sped behind her as she fired again, but I wasn't sure what to do. I never fought a woman before, never had a need to. Part of it told me this wasn't right, but on the other hand, she was trying to kill me. What was I supposed to do?

Finally I did the only thing that came to mind. As she began to spin around to meet my gaze, I kicked her in the shin, and when she let out a noise that was more annoyed than actually hurt, I settled to the last resort and sent a punch her way. My fist connected with her shoulder, just as she was turning around, and I felt the bone crack under my knuckles, and the blonde went flying across the dance floor from the impact.

Immediately I felt bad about it, but obviously it didn't phase her much. With her good arm she raised the gun at me and fired again, and again. Dodging bullets was easy because I could hear them coming, feel the heat of them through the air, and I could step aside and let them whip right past me. Turning my head I watched them hit the bottles behind the bar and shatter them into a million pieces. Then I got an idea.

As the huntress struggled up onto her feet, taking care not to move her ruined shoulder, I sped towards the bar, took one of the bar stools in both my hands, and forced it up into my hands and over my head. Luckily they weren't bolted into the floor, even with my strength I wasn't sure I could lift them. I turned with the bar stool over my head, facing her, and I watched her eyes go wide as I threw it at her with all the strength I could muster.

She seemed to freeze, but as the stool flew at her, she rose her arm to fire the gun. One bullet left the barrel, pinged off one of the legs of the stool, and so it only managed to hit her in the hip. No matter, because by this time, I sped around her, gripped her from behind, and sank my fangs into her neck.

Securing her close with an arm around her waist and my hand tight on the arm that held the gun, I bit into her hard. The huntress let out a shrieking cry, but it didn't seem to be of pain, more so of terror. It rang sharply in my ears and I cringed, making me grip her even tighter.

"Let go of me, you fledging son-of-a-bitch!" she shrieked, and rose one of her stilleto shoes up towards my groin, only managing to skin the inside of my thigh. Freaked out and frustrated, she started to shake and convulse, trying to get me off her, but I just stayed still with my teeth in her neck.

But before I could even get a taste of her blood on my tongue, I let her go, and to this day I don't know why. I watched her clatter to the ground like a broken Barbie doll, blonde hair astray on the dirty floor. She was heaving, unable to even get up onto her hands and knees, the hem of her pretty little black dress inching up higher and higher on that leg line.

I'm not gonna lie, hunter or no hunter, she was a fine piece of ass, and my first thought right then and there was to rape her. Hey, I know it may seem harsh, but hell she was gonna kill me!

I advanced on her hungrily, but even in her sorry state she was full of surprises. Over her shoulder she shot me a glare of pure hatred, and suddenly out of nowhere with her good arm, she swung it toward me and planted something sharp into my leg. I screamed in pain, for the pain was worse than anything imaginable, anything I had ever experienced before. I screamed and screamed, and looked down to discover she had embedded one of those silver stakes directly into my shin.

The next thing I knew, as I reached down to pull it out, my vision began to blur and I started to feel light-headed. I blinked hard, trying to fix my eyes, but to no avail, and before I could do anything else, I was falling, and the ground rose up to meet me. I collapsed on the dance floor, shaking compulsively, my vision becoming more and more blurry, my lips shaking but I couldn't even scream.

I heard the huntress struggle to her feet with a groan of pain, and then the click-clacking of her shoes on the floor, going further and further away from me. She could have staked me in my paralyzed state, I don't know why she didn't take advantage of the situation. All I knew was that if she wasn't going to stake me, the silver stake in my shin, having reached the bone, was going to slowly poison me.

In my head, because I no longer had a voice, I screamed out for help. I screamed for Seto, I guess like offspring calls for its mother. If Seto was nearby, I know he would hear me. Surely he wouldn't let his only childe die slowly on an abandoned dance floor in the middle of a club...would he?

In my head I screamed but soon I felt my consciousness slip away, and my vision was going black. I felt so tempted to close my eyes and pass out, even though I knew that if I did, the silver in my system would probably kill me right then and there. I couldn't help it, I collapsed completely onto the floor and closed my eyes, letting the darkness take over.

~*~

I awoke with the sharp taste of hot blood on my tongue, sliding down my throat, and my body began to scream in agony. I don't know how but I wasn't able to scream, I was only able to scream inside my head, both in pain from the wound in my shin, and in delight for the blood in my throat.

Somebody held my head upright so I could swallow properly. I could smell three entirely different scents, all of them so very familiar but for some reason I couldn't place them. I guess that's what happens when you get staked with silver: your head and senses go all awry.

The blood continued and then it stopped, and I could feel it like hot acid as it traveled through my veins. I felt it the strongest in my leg, as slowly the sensation grew and began to burn. I knew instantly that it was working its vampiric magic and sealing the wound in my shin. It took moments of that harsh burning sensation, and then it diminished and all that was left was a gentle numbness directly where the huntress had stabbed me.

When I opened my eyes there was Marik looking down at me with his eyes wide open in shock. He moved his lips and I could hear the faint blur of his booming voice, but no words. The expression in his face was priceless, he looked completely frightened.

A few minutes passed and my eyes fixed themselves. I could see Marik perfectly now, and if I had the energy to laugh I would have done it, he still looked as though he were about to faint. I blinked a few times, and tried to sit myself up.

"Jou, Christ man, you had us totally shitting ourselves!" Marik said, as he slowly began to help me sit up.

I still felt light-headed, but as I sat up and closed my eyes a little, I was able to collect myself a little and steady myself. When I opened my eyes again, I looked at my surroundings and found I was still in the club, on the dance floor, and Bakura was sitting next to me inspecting my ankle. I looked where the wound had been, and the skin was clean and unbroken. I let out a deep sigh of relief.

"Silver, goddamn fucking hunters." Bakura spat, and I saw that he was gripping the silver stake in his hand and glaring down at it, as though it had done him a world of harm. "Another hour and it would have totally tainted your blood."

"Yeah, then Kaiba would stake us to the ground and wait for the sun to rise." Marik added with a shiver.

With those words, I sighed. Obviously Seto had not come to my rescue, as I had so desperately hoped. Though I was more than happy to have been rescued by Marik and Bakura, a rescue by Seto would have assured me that perhaps he still had some scrap of feeling left for me.

"We should get back to the coven." Bakura said to me and to Marik. "If Yami finds out Jou was stabbed with silver and we didn't come back straight after, he'll kill us."

"Right." Marik agreed. It was the first time I had ever seen them agree to anything.

Slowly Marik helped me up to my feet, asking if I could walk, but all I could do was keep my eyes fixed on my ankle. I was still surprised that the spot where I had been staked with the silver was perfectly healed. Vampire blood was a helluva thing. It was weird to think of living without it, when I had been human. How would I have done without it if I had been stabbed when I was human?

As soon as we struggled out of the club, we heard the sounds of sirens fast approaching. Someone probably called the cops after the huntress fired her gun.

"Goddamn it." Marik spat, and hooked one of his finely toned arms around my waist. "Hold on, we have to move quick."

Right then Marik launched into celerity. In the whirlwind of celerity I couldn't feel my feet touch the ground, and all around me lights blurred, office towers zoomed by, whole blocks of street were gone. Beside me I could see the blur of Bakura's white hair, but not his body. We were going faster than I had ever experienced before.

It made me slightly sick. I pressed a hand to my stomach and Marik gripped me harder, in a way that told me not to worry, it would all be over soon. I felt his body hold me up but I couldn't see him, all my eyes could focus on for even a moment was the swish of the lights going by.

We stopped very abruptly and all I could see was Bakura forcing open the back door to the coven, and Marik pulled me in through the hallways to the nearest room, where I was laid down on the nearest couch and had a chance to let my stomach settle.

"Okay, coast is clear." I heard Bakura say as he came into the room after us, probably after ensuring the entrance to the coven was secure.

We were there a minute and all of a sudden a great presence joined us in the room, and without even looking around I knew that Yami was about to grace us with his presence. And from what I could feel, he was pissed off. Sure enough a few seconds later, in he came scowling and searching the room, turning his violet eyes to me and letting them settle on me. Instantly he knew something had happened.

He turned to Marik and Bakura, who were cowardly shifting from one foot to another, with a fiercely angry eye. "What happened?"

"What do you mean?" Marik asked fairly innocently, which we all knew was a mistake.

Yami looked as though he were about to explode with fury. "Human authorities are combing over that club you frequent. You really expect to stand there and assume I won't know you both had something to do with it?"

I swiveled my feet over the side of the couch and tried to get up, even though Marik and Bakura nearly had heart attacks when I did, reaching for me like I was gonna faint or something. I fixed my eyes on Yami, who turned his eyes to me and watched me rise to my feet, where I stood there wobbling unsteadily, still sick from the silver that lingered in my veins.

"It was a hunter, Yami." I said. "She fired a gun and used silver."

Yami's eyes darkened, and then they narrowed to me. Fuck, he looked sexy like that. If this wasn't such a dire situation I would have jumped him right then and there.

"The hunter attacked you?" Yami asked, emphasizing his question towards me.

I looked briefly at Marik and Bakura, who both gave me the blank look of an idiot who didn't know what to do, and sighing I turned back to Yami and nodded. "Yes."

Yami stood there, strangely calm and quiet, before turning his head just slightly without breaking eye contact with me. "Marik. Bakura."

That was probably the sign for them to piss off, because off they went just as quick as they could, down the nearest hall and disappearing without another word, leaving me and Yami alone. I swallowed and looked at Yami. I shivered under the hard gaze of his serious eyes.

Yami moved towards me, his eyes never leaving me. "Jounouchi, this is very important. Have you ever seen this hunter before?"

I opened my mouth to say no, I hadn't. But then I took a moment to think about it. I think I would have remembered seeing a woman like that, specifically if she was trying to kill me. So I shook my head. "No. Never."

He eased a bit then, his eyes softening, as though he heard something of great reassurance. "Do you know the name of the hunter?"

I shook my head. "No."

"Did she say anything to you? Anything?" Yami's eyes narrowed then, emphasizing those words, as though my answer was a matter of life and death.

Reader, I don't know why but my next words to him were a lie. I should have told him that the huntress mentioned Seto. I should have told him that the huntress was interested in the fact that I was Seto's childe. I should have mentioned that she was going to kill me in an attempt to draw Seto out. I should have told him everything.

But I didn't.

"No. Nothing."

I'll never know if Yami thought I was lying or telling the truth. His gaze was on me steadily as if he expected me to finish the end of the story, but we both knew there was nothing more to say. Gingerly I sat back down, feeling dizzy. I guess the silver wasn't quite out of my system yet.

Yami took a step towards me. "Are you all right, Jounouchi?"

"Yeah, fine." I replied. "I guess there's still some silver left in me."

I laid back on my couch and closed my eyes, trying to still my head. Yami came closer and closer, I could feel his aura on me like heat, and it made me shiver. When I opened my eyes I saw his hands balled into fists, and he had a very intense expression on his face.

"Yami?" I mused, from my rather vulnerable position on the couch. I raised my head just a little and tried to appear concerned. "What is it?"

"I can smell the silver in your blood, Jounouchi." Yami said very seriously, staring right into my eyes and I knew that this was no joking matter. "It must be extracted."

Extracted? Wouldn't the blood heal everything on its own? I struggled to sit up, my head still spinning, as I tried to focus on Yami's intense gaze. "Extracted? But...how?"

Yami swallowed intensely, and even though he wasn't breathing, his chest rose and fell heavily as though he were. "I'll draw it out, but you must feed immediately after or you may succumb to the damage it will do on your arteries."

I frowned at him. Was he honestly suggesting I go out after I had been poisoned by a hunter?

Yami drew up the sleeve of his leather jacket, his eyes becoming more serious and more intense to look into. "You'll take mine."

I shuddered, because honestly nothing was more sexy than the thought of drinking from Yami, relishing in the taste of his rich blood, centuries old and delicious. I settled down further into the couch, trying to get comfortable, while looking at Yami with a slightly hesitant expression on my face.

"It must be done, Jounouchi." Yami said matter-of-factly, as though I had protested violently.

"But...if I take your blood...won't my body..." I didn't know what the word was for it. I was wondering if I took Yami's blood into my body, would it overpower Seto's blood, therefore making me Yami's childe and not Seto's?

Yami seemed to know exactly what I was thinking. "The small amount you will take from me will not deter your own blood. You are and always will be Seto's childe, even if you drink from a thousand vampires."

Without thinking about hiding it, I sighed heavily. I would always remain Seto's childe, always carry the reminder of his rejection in my veins. The thought of eternity as Seto's childe made my heart sink.

**~*~**

Yami had me lay out on a long sofa and removed my shirt so my bare chest was bared. Kneeling at my side, his eyes focused on my breast, he made a clean cut and watched the blood ooze from the wound like syrup. I stared at Yami, shaking just a little because I felt at any moment he would lean forward and lick up my spilled blood, which would lead to a very steamy encounter. But he just sat and stared, watched the blood spill down over my side onto the carpet.

I could feel the silver leaving my body, tearing at my veins as it oozed out. It was like having a great amount of sting just leave your body little by little. By the end of it I was perspiring, but I was so relieved to have it all out. My body felt somewhat normal again, however very, very weak.

The wound on my breast sealed itself momentarily; blood smeared down my side, when Yami's eyes wandered to my face and he leaned up towards me and rose his wrist to his mouth. I was unable to tear my eyes away as he bit into his wrist, his eyes becoming deep and almost a little scary. When he drew his wrist forth to me, I was shivering with anticipation.

I let out my tongue and a drop splashed on my taste buds, sending electric shocks through my system. I jolted from the taste of it, as even the one little drop was enough to shock my body. Yami's blood was so potent and ancient. It tasted absolutely delicious, a little spicy, and immediately intoxicating.

I drew Yami's wrist to my mouth and closed my eyes in ecstasy as Yami's blood gushed from the wound into my mouth and down my throat. Every inch of my body was responding. My skin was searing hot, my organs were screaming, my bones were rattling with exhilaration. The more I tasted the more I wanted, and while I took Yami's blood, I had somehow failed to notice that he was moaning in complete pleasure.

After a moment Yami took his wrist away, and when he did I took a moment and listened to the blood swim through my system, healing the damage the silver had done to everything. I felt full of energy, I wanted to get up and launch into celerity and run through the city unannounced. I wanted to find the huntress with the gall to infect my system and tear her in half, to show her what I was truly capable of. Worst of all, the thrill of the blood had given me an erection, and I wanted to have sex more than anything in the world at that moment.

When I had finally come out of the excitement of it all, I looked up and Yami was sealing the wound on his wrist and rubbing it gingerly as though it were hurting him. He rolled down the sleeve to his jacket and gave me a weary look. "You'll be fine now. Get your rest, you will feel a desperate need to feed when you wake up tomorrow."

And with that, without another word or anything, Yami disappeared down the hall.

I watched him go, and my sight lingered on where he stood for moments. My body itched with arousal, for my erection would not be ignored. Although I was grateful that Yami had given me his blood, I couldn't help but be disappointed that he hadn't acknowledged the boner in my pants, or the fact that it was him that was the cause of it.

I sighed and stood up. My maker didn't want me, and my savior didn't want me. This had been one shitty night. Worst yet, the tainted blood was stained on my side, which meant a shower before sunrise. I started to drag my lethargic ass towards the hall that would lead to my room, when I was suddenly face to face with Marik.

Marik opened his mouth, probably to say that he was coming to check on me, when his eyes gravitated to my crotch and his eyebrows flew up.

"Whoa!" Marik said with a bit of a laugh. "Is that the Millennium Rod in your pants, or are you just happy to see me?"

**~*~

* * *

**

**Next chapter: Wait and see!**


	20. Chapter Nineteen

**Chihiro: Part I**

**Chapter Nineteen**

**~*~**

The sun was on the rise, so I dragged myself into a quick shower to wash off the dried blood down my side, from where Yami had cut me. In my own spacious bathroom, decorated entirely in dark stone, I turned on the water and shed my clothes and gingerly stepped in, letting out a deep groan as I soaked under the water.

The warmth felt good down my skin and in my hair. I lifted my face and sighed deeply as the water plundered onto my cheekbones and down my chin. What a night it had been, but at least after everything that had happened, I was safe and I was warm and I was ready for a good night's sleep.

I took the bar of coconut flavoured soap in between my hands and lathered them, and putting the soap down I went to work at washing away the caked blood on my ribs. The blood came away easily enough, flying down the drain with the rest of the water, but it left behind a faint red stain. I shook my head. If only I had known how dangerous silver was, hell I would have just run from that stupid bitch instead of trying to face her by myself.

As soon as all the dried blood was gone and all that was left was the faint stain, I reached to turn the water off when I realized the glass door was opening behind me. I spun around, careful not to slip on the rock at my feet, and came face to face with a very naked Marik.

At first my jaw dropped open in surprise. I wanted to shout: "What the fuck, get out of my shower!" but then I instantly became lost in his violet eyes that bore deep into mine. I watched the water fall down over him and catch in his sandy locks, and merely wet them but not soak them so they held their shape. The water running over his face and broad shoulders made his skin look like melting chocolate. I nearly shot my load then and there.

Marik smirked a little, and noticing the coconut soap I was using earlier, took it in between his hands and worked them to a lather. "I couldn't let you go to bed without a little...release."

Awkwardly I realized he was talking about my boner and, like an idiot, I looked down to make sure it was still there. Of course it was still there, my body reacted to Marik's closeness. That was when I first noticed Marik's own cock, and HOLY SHIT! This guy was HUGE! It was pretty surprising, I mean the guy was so beautiful, it'd be ridiculous if he had his looks AND was well hung. But he was!

I looked up and swallowed, so it wouldn't seem as though I was blatantly staring at Marik's cock, but he just chuckled as though everyone did it at some point or another. He put the soap back in its place, and very slowly advanced on me.

I backed up right against the rock wall and watched Marik close the gap. This was the first time I really noticed how much taller than me he was, he towered over me! I swallowed as his massive chest touched mine, and he sidled his right leg next to my left, and rose one of his arms up and wrapped it around my slender waist. All I could do was stare at him.

I could smell his blood, he was so close, and if he was breathing I would feel his breath on my lips. The water from the showerhead spilled down into his hair and ran down his shoulders and his back and chest. At this point the shower hardly mattered. All that mattered was Marik.

He held me firm, and his other hand gently wrapped around my erection. I made a small sound as if to tell him to stop (which I had absolutely no intention of doing). At this point Marik's eyes became serious for a moment.

"Don't fight me." He said softly, not threateningly. "We both know you need this."

I sucked in breath, even though I didn't need it, and let my head fall back against the rock wall in silent permission for him to continue. I closed my eyes and let myself go.

His grip was hard and firm on my erection, it was exactly the right pressure, and very slowly he began to pump me. I squeezed my eyes shut, because it felt so damn good, and my hands wanted to grip something but all I could do was lay them flat against the wall.

I opened my lips and let out a moan and Marik pumped me a little faster, and brought me closer so our chests were pressed against each other. I opened my eyes and looked into his, deep in concentration, and my first instinct at that point was to kiss him, but I didn't. I didn't want to initiate something he might not be okay with.

As he pumped me a little faster yet, I rose my arms and encircled them around his neck, drawing myself closer, so close that I could feel Marik's erection touching my own. I let out a long groan as he held me fast, and began to jerk me as fast as he could, touching his erection to my own to intensify the pleasure.

No one had touched me like this, it was positively glorious. My blood was hot and I squirmed in Marik's hold, anxious for release but wanting it to last and not be over quite so soon. I opened my lips to tell Marik to hold up and go a little slower, because I knew I would cum soon. But when I opened my lips, all words that may have left them were interrupted when Marik's bubble gum pink tongue stretched out and touched itself to my own.

I squeezed my eyes shut as the gap was closed and I kissed him openmouthed, my tongue touching his, flying up to stroke his lips and taste his unique taste. Marik made a delicious noise in his throat and while he kissed me, his hold on my erection stalled and I gasped as his hard grip held me. Holding me close we kissed with our tongues for a solid five minutes, or so it seemed, before the kiss was broken and Marik's hand resumed jerking me.

I didn't last. The whole encounter had been extremely sexual and erotic, and after only a few moments I was squeezing his shoulders and exploding all over Marik's hand. I let out a long cry of pleasure and squeezed my eyes shut as it took over my body and made my limbs shake. For a solid ten seconds it took me, and when it was over, I collapsed in Marik's arms, utterly exhausted from the night's events.

Marik helped me out of the shower and cleaned me off first with a small towel, and then dried me with a full towel. When I woke out of the bliss that was the afterglow of my orgasm, I noticed that Marik was still fully erect. I looked up at him and opened my mouth, to suggest that maybe I could return the favor, but Marik just smirked.

"Go to bed and get some sleep, blondie." He said, and lightly slapped my cheek as though I were the cutest thing he had ever seen, and then he turned and left the bathroom, soaked from the shower with a full grown boner.

I stood there gaping at the closed door, unable to comprehend what had just happened.

**~*~**

Just as the sun was rising I closed my curtains and retired to my coffin in the closet, where I laid awake for a good hour thinking about what had happened only a half hour before. My body had reacted so eagerly to Marik's body and his touch, had I really been so frustrated ever since I learned that Seto didn't love me? Course it didn't help that Marik was a gorgeous creature.

My mind began to wander and soon I was thinking about how it would have been if Marik and I had had sex. I imagined he would be a hard, passionate lover who'd enjoy a bit of kink here and there, handcuffs and whips and slings and all that fun stuff. But in the end I bet he'd just like it hard and a little wild, the exact opposite of Seto, but all in all the thought of it was pretty thrilling.

While jerking me off in the shower had been pretty damn hot, sex with Marik might have made my heart beat again.

What I was worried about was seeing him the following night.

**~*~**

I dreamt about the huntress, the blonde bitch who stained my blood with her silver. Even in my dreams she looked at me with a snarky expression, as though she held power over me and she knew it drove me crazy. Even in my dreams I felt my blood boil and my hands curl into fists at the mere sight of her. In her cute little cocktail dress, one of those fucking little silver stakes at hand, touching it to her lip as though to tease, she just smiled that damn smirk at me.

Why did she haunt my dreams? Was it my blood, reminding me of what I had survived that night? Perhaps it was the anger I held for her, the sheer madness my mind went into whenever I thought of running into her again.

One thing was for sure: if she had the most damnable luck that our paths should ever be crossed again, I would kill her. And this time I wouldn't hesitate.

**~*~**

I woke up, showered once more, got dressed and sauntered out into the living room, where I found Bakura draped over one of the sofas reading through a magazine. I took a quick scan of the room and held my nose to the air to get a good whiff. It seemed it was just the two of us, no one else was around.

"What's going on, blondie?" Bakura asked as he thumbed through the magazine, not looking up.

I came into the room and sat down on the far end of the sofa where he lay. I studied his face. He looked so calm and interested in what he was reading, despite the fact that he was flipping through the pages too often to actually be reading anything. I never realized just how large his eyes were, big and brown and beautiful, and his features seemed so delicate when he just lay calm and dormant as he was at that moment.

I sat back against the sofa and looked around. Again I couldn't hear anyone or smell anyone. It all felt fairly strange. "What's the plan for tonight?"

Bakura shrugged, his eyes never leaving his magazine. "Yami wants us to lay low after what happened last night. So if you wanna go out, better do it now or forever hold your peace."

There was no way in hell I was gonna just sit around here all night, I needed to feed. After what happened last night, my veins were quenched and begging me for the taste of something fresh and alive. I tried to think of a good place to go to, a bar or club nearby where lonely one-night standers were easy to come by, but I couldn't think of one.

"Where's a good place to go?" I finally asked Bakura. "That's nearby, I mean."

Bakura pulled his eyes from his magazine for a moment and rolled them, as though he were searching in his mind for a suitable answer to my question. Finally he looked at me. "There's a good men's skin club about three blocks from here, can't guarantee about the condition of blood though, probably a lot of drug use that goes on there. But it's close, and you'd better go soon because Yami's in a mood tonight."

I nodded and stood up. Sounded good enough for me. "You gonna come with?"

Bakura shook his head. "I might come by in a bit, but for now I'm just chilling."

I gave him a wave. "Enjoy."

I heard him smirk as I left the room. "You too."

**~*~**

I wandered up to the club slowly and uninspired. Even living in the coven with new friends, a vampire's life sure can be lonely if there isn't a sire involved. I was feeling more alone than ever before, wandering around in the dark, not really knowing where to go or what really to do. I wanted to feed, but for some reason I lost the momentum I had when I woke.

The night was quiet, and downtown was next to deserted. When you're a vampire, time no longer seems to matter, so you lose track of the day of the week quite easily. I couldn't remember if it was Tuesday or Wednesday, but I knew it had to be a week night because the streets were so deserted. All I could hear was the bustle of people who were working late in their office buildings.

Eventually I came across a small club and decided to go inside, but immediately regretted it. It was one of those strange gothic bars where everyone wears black and silver spikes and their hair (if they have hair) is all spiky and funky colours and they have the weirdest shit tattooed all over their faces and bare skin. Everything they wear is skin tight, even the really overweight ones, and for only a moment of being inside I knew that there was too much drug use going on to really benefit from feeding. The thought depressed me.

I must have been the only normal one in the entire club, because everyone watched me go by. I was dressed in a black top and blue jeans, I figured I looked pretty normal. Everyone looked me up and down with fairly undignified looks on their faces. I quickly decided that maybe this wasn't the place for me.

But then, before I even saw her, I could smell her, the blonde bitch, the huntress.

She was waiting for me outside the club with two others, and I could smell fire, she had fire with her. Bitch, she followed me, how else could she have found me? I contemplated what to do, should I escape through the back and make a run for it? Part of me wanted to go out and face her and kill her, tear her apart for even daring to come near me after what happened last night. I the animal in me wanted blood, but what was left of the human in me wanted me to be smart. If she had two other hunters with her, what were the chances I would live?

I decided to face her. Face her and show her what my blood could do.

I left the club out the back way, to avoid being seen by spectators, but I saw nothing, only the darkness. I knew she was close, waiting for a time to strike when I had my guard down. I progressed down the street cautiously, keeping my ears and nostrils open. I would smell her before I saw her.

But then I could hear an object leave its holster, and whiz through the air towards me. I could smell the poisonous silver and the fire that accompanied it, an arrows speeding right for me. Instinctively I held out my hand, did a quick spin on my feet, and launched into celerity. As I spun the arrow came towards me and I grabbed it with my hand, stopping on both feet. I threw away the arrow (as it started to numb my skin) and there she was, moderately dressed, aiming a crossbow at me. She lowered it and gave me a snarky, sexy little smile. "Survived my silver stake, I see."

My blood was boiling with rage and revenge. My animal instinct screamed at me to charge and kill her. I no longer needed help in decision-making. I wanted her dead or I would die doing it.

"Tell you what, blondie." She said, handing the crossbow off to one of the goons at her side. "If you call for Seto Kaiba, I'll be sure to kill you quickly. No silver, no pain."

Then the bitch flipped her blonde curls with one hand and grinned at me. "So whaddya say?"

I flexed my fingers. "I say watch your back bitch, cause your head is mine."

She was ready for me when I charged her. Pulling a silver stake from the holster on her leg, she held it tight in one hand. As I came close she swung at me, trying to connect with whatever skin she could.

They backed themselves into a corner, making it damn near impossible to take them by surprise and attack them from behind. I checked all around me for options. The blonde bitch was my main target, but the two goons she had with her were more a nuisance then they were worth. If I was gonna get to her, I needed to eliminate them first. If only there was some way to split them up...

I knew that by charging them I was backing them into the alley, and I would never get to them. So I pulled away into the shadows and searched all around for something I could use. As I climbed a nearby fire escape, I heard the bitch call out to me:

"Running away, fledgling? Cry to your master and this will all be over soon."

I'm not gonna lie, for a minute I really considered it. But with Seto's fear of hunters, I doubted he would come to my aid even if I did call for him. And if Seto and this huntress really had a past (which I assumed they did), then he really wouldn't have showed. But then I thought about Yami, Bakura and Marik. They were big strong guys, surely they would be able to take out a few humans, and four to three we easily outnumbered them.

Then, in the echoes of the alley, I heard her say: "Go check for him, he can't have gone far. Too much trouble for one measly fledgling, even if Seto Kaiba is his sire."

I heard them move out of the corner and stayed perfectly still. I watched and waited, as footsteps came closer and became clearer. They were dressed in all black, which didn't help, but as they came into view beneath me, I realized they both had shaved heads, making them easier to spot in the dark. They were armed with crossbows but they seemed to be at a loss of what to do. Finally after quietly deliberating with each other, they decided to split up, and I rejoiced. The one turned a corner while the other continued straight down the alley.

I was worried if I went afer the guy going straight down the alley the bitch would see me and come running, so I went after the other one. I climbed down the fire escape and crept along the shadows of the building, keeping my eyes and ears open in all directions. Distantly I heard the bitch talking quietly, probably on a cell phone, so I didn't need to worry about her.

I could smell the goon, sweat and determination, no trace of fear whatsoever. I wondered how many times they risked their lives helping the bitch, and how many vampires they killed. Slowly I came upon him in the dark, did he not even think to watch his back? I looked around me for a weapon, something to use, and lying against a trash can was a long, sharp, rusted piece of metal, probably broken off a railing or something. I took it in hand firmly, but as I pulled it towards me, it scraped the cement loudly and the goon swivelled around. This was it, now or never. I launched into celerity, spinning side to side to avoid getting hit, and when I got close enough I gripped the bar hard and forced it up, as hard as I could.

I felt it connect and the goon let out a choked sound. When I looked up, the bar went up through his torso and out the other side. Blood poured from the wound and out the goon's mouth, and his eyes began to dull. The smell of his blood drove me crazy, and as it began to pour from the wound along the bar, I shuddered and wanted to catch it on my tongue. But I refrained. I knew I had to get the other goon.

I left the bar and let the dead goon fall to the cement with a dead thump. I could hear the faint gargling of blood in his throat. What a waste.

I heard noise behind me, fast approaching footsteps, but I would tell by the smell it was the other goon and not the bitch. I spun around on my heel, wondering if I charged him here, where it was dark, if he'd be able to defend himself in time. It was worth a try.

He came bustling around the corner, crossbow and all, and I didn't wait. Launching into celerity I charged him, and he raised the crossbow to shoot but his aim was poor, either I was moving too fast or he was scared shitless and couldn't concentrate. He fired three times and all arrows zoomed past me, but I could have easily dodged them even if they were headed my way. The poor bastard didn't even have a chance.

I checked him hard into the nearest wall, pinned him and tore into his neck. I couldn't help it, the smell of the first goon's blood was too over-powering and my thirst was getting the better of me. The goon's body began to twitch like a fish outta water as I tore into his throat and let the sweet stuff into my mouth and down my throat. It was glorious, the taste and texture. I shuddered hard and just took it all, like a glutton, and filled my system until there was not another beat of the goon's heart. And then, as I finished, I let him topple to the cement like a rag doll. I licked my fingers clean of the spilled blood, savoring every last drop.

Now that the goons were dead, it was time to take out the bitch.

I moved towards where she had been left behind, staggering as the blood flooded through my body and excited me. Never has a kill been so satisfying.

I found her right where I left her, in the corner patiently waiting. She saw me coming towards her and when she saw the blood on my mouth and chin, her eyes widened, even through she stayed perfectly still. I continued towards her steadily, no longer afraid of her.

She sighed, stuck a hand on her hip, and reached into the duffel bag at her foot and took out one of her famous little silver stakes. "Well, I guess that's what I get when I send a man to do a woman's job."

Without warning she threw the stake for my head, and normally if I had my head up my ass it probably would have planted straight in my forehead and killed me. But I dodged it easily enough, swinging to the side and hugging to the wall of the alley. She stared back at me, fierce and determined not to fail in her mission. But my bloodlust was high, I felt more energetic than ever before, as though I was completely on fire. My fingers itched with a need to tear at her, rip her apart, do what was necessary to see her fall.

I literally leapt from the wall towards the other side of the narrow alleyway, planting my palms against the cool brick, and just as she was reaching down into her duffel bag to grab another one of her silver stakes, I leapt right for her, my hands stretched out, and just as I was about to grab her shoulders, she turned and I caught her hair instead. She screamed right in my ear and I tore a chunk of golden curls from her scalp, caught in the gnarled hooks of my fingers.

The bitch screamed in agony as I pushed myself into the nearest corner, her soft curls tangled in my fingers. Her hands pressed to the area where I had ripped out the locks and she turned a hateful eye towards me. I grinned and threw her the locks she was missing, and that must have really pissed her off, because suddenly she was charging me with the silver stake in her left hand, screaming in anger and hatred.

If I were human, I would have been staked to that wall and dead.

Launching into celerity I quickly evaded her, swept past her, and just as she planted the silver stake in the brick where I had been standing, I twirled around her, hooked my left arm around her neck and grabbed her arm in my right. I held her with a death grip and she tried to twist her arm away, but I held her fast. In the next moment I held her arm so tightly that I felt it crack under my fingers, and the bitch screamed in pain.

Blood trailed down her scalp into her golden curls and her arm was twisted so abnormally that I was sure it had broken. No matter how hard I held her, she continued to struggle and fight me. Once I nearly tripped over her damn duffel bag but once it was out of the way, I had my feet planted to the cement and my hold was stronger than ever. The bitch was going nowhere.

Still she struggled in my hold but I knew she couldn't move her broken arm. The smell of her blood and her hair were intoxicating, so rich and deep, and instinctively I was baring my fangs ready to bite, ready to end her miserable little life, but I refrained. I remembered she mentioned Seto, maybe she had clues to his past, reasons why Seto was so afraid of hunters. So I kept my fangs to myself.

The huntress grunted in anger. "Go on, bite me. Get it over with!"

While she tried to sound strong, her voice was trembling with fear. She was afraid, afraid of death, afraid of me.

"What do you want with Seto Kaiba?" I whispered in her ear.

She froze, as though it were the most forbidden thing to ever ask. I waited and listened, there was only the two of us in that alley. But then she started laughing.

"You really are a newborn." she said, and against my hold on her tightened in warning. I was in no mood for any of her bullshit. But she seemed to understand, for she reached up to her neck with a trembling hand and reached beneath the fabric of her little dress. She plucked something from her neck and carefully offered it to me. "Deliver this to Seto Kaiba."

I took it in hand. It was a small rectangular pendant, a smooth red and black face with a small golden oval directly in the center. I stared at it for a good five minutes before I realized it had a lock on the side.

"He will want it, fledgling." The bitch promised.

It didn't seem like something Seto would want, or something that Seto would wear for that matter. But I figured I would just take it, take it to Seto and see what he said, if anything. Either way, by that time she had outlived her use.

I put the pendant in my pocket, and gripping her head in one hand, I only heard her gasp before her neck twisted in my grip and I heard the bone snap. She fell to the cement like a limp rag doll, her eyes wide with fear and her lips open as if to scream. My blood roared with victory, but I walked away with the pendant in hand, leaving them in the alley behind me.

* * *

**A/N**: Ugh...not very good with writing action sequences. Hopefully it wasn't too bad.

**Next chapter**: Jou goes to visit Seto (finally).


	21. Chapter Twenty

**Chihiro: Part One**

**Chapter Twenty

* * *

**

As soon as I stepped back into the coven, I found Marik and Bakura arguing over some Japanese singer's photo in the magazine that Bakura was reading. Something about her being hot or not so hot, I don't really know. I came in and they both turned and looked at me. Marik had a mischevious smile on his face, and if I wasn't so excited, I would have remembered that he jacked me off in the shower the night before. But it completely slipped my mind.

Bakura grinned up at me. "Get your fix, man?"

I shook my head. "Nah, I ran into that fucking hunter again."

"You...wha?" Bakura got up in a hurry and Marik's grin was gone and he was just staring at me. Suddenly they were both looking at me as though something horrible had happened.

I, too excited about the prospect of going to see Seto, wasn't paying attention to how worried they seemed. "Yeah, the bitch followed me from this club and tried to pin me in the alley. I showed her."

Ever get the feeling you've just said the stupidest thing in the world? Well that's how they were looking at me, like I had let out the biggest bout of bullshit they'd ever heard.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Marik finally asked.

"That hunter, from last night, the bitch who started a shoot-up at the bar. She's looking for Seto...well, make that was looking for Seto."

Now turn the stupidest thing and turn it into the most unbelievable thing. The blood drained from their faces, their eyes went wide, and they just stared.

And then, from out of nowhere, Yami appeared. He too, like Bakura and Marik, looked as though he had just heard the most ridiculous thing in his life, but he absolutely had to know whether or not it was really true.

"What hunter?" Yami demanded, his voice deeper and more foreboding than usual.

I cowered under Yami's glare, I couldn't help it, the guy makes me weak. I quickly looked to Bakura and Marik, and they were now standing side by side staring at me with their jaws wide open and their eyes fixed and wide. I was starting to feel like I had done the unthinkable and was about to be punished for it.

I looked back at Yami, into those big violet eyes that demanded an answer. "I-I didn't get her name, but she was looking for Seto." I then took the pendant out of my pocket, holding it up by the string, and produced it to Yami. "She had this."

Bakura and Marik gasped. Yami stared at the pendant as though it held the answer to life itself. I had never seen him so focused, and as I stared at him, the blood in his face drained and he looked positively scared shitless.

Now if I didn't have my head up my ass, I probably would have tried to figure out why they were all shitting themselves over this pendant and the news that the huntress was dead. But obviously I was oblivious. I was too excited thinking about Seto, if there was time I was going to see him right away, not wait for the next night. My blood was absolutely singing at the idea.

Bakura finally broke the silence, pointing at the pendant with a shaky finger. "Yami, isn't that-"

Yami ignored Bakura, looked at me very seriously, and said: "Was she blonde? The huntress?"

For a moment I was surprised that he knew this. I shouldn't have been, who knew how old Yami was and how many huntresses he knew. But I nodded. "...Yeah."

Then Bakura drew in a breath with shock, and I heard him whisper. "It was Mai."

Marik looked right at me, his eyes accusing. "You killed Mai?"

Now turn the most unbelievable thing and turn it into "oh my god what the fuck did I do", and that's me. I looked to Bakura and Marik but they just stared at me in shock, and then I looked to Yami, who's eyes were so fierce and yet filled with the same shock that held Bakura and Marik in a trance.

"Yami..." I stared carefully, lowering the pendant. "Yami, it was kill or be killed-"

"But you did kill her?" Yami asked in a serious tone.

I nodded my head nervously. "Yeah...she would have killed me." I held up the pendant one more time, maybe I was trying to hide behind it, I don't really know, anything to keep Yami's accusing glare off me. "Look, it's Seto's. Think I should take it to him?"

Yami stared at the pendant for a long time, as did Marik and Bakura, and then finally Yami nodded. "Yes. Take it to him."

I smiled but no one smiled back at me, they stared in shock as though I had gone the most unspeakable thing in the name of vampires. I slipped out of the room the fastest I could without looking too suspicious, holding Seto's pendant close, and wondering what the hell was up with them. What had I done? Sure, I killed the blonde huntress, this...Mai, if that's her name. But it was just as I said: either I killed her or she would have killed me. So what was the problem?

~*~

I left quickly into the night, for I knew I had only a few more hours before dawn and I was determined to see Seto. Nothing was going to keep me from seeing him tonight. I was nearly pissing my pants in anticipation to see him. I took the pendant in both hands and left the coven like it was burning down, running into the night like Hell was chasing me. Instinct drove my feet, I could smell him in the air if I tried hard enough and I took off in his direction. I ended up back at the graveyard where I had spent my first few weeks as a newborn vampire.

For a moment I stilled as I realized he was here, he was in the mausoleum and hadn't moved, like I thought he would. He wasn't moving to protect himself from hunters. Had I had a better head at the time, I would have been pissed as hell to know that he had simply kicked me out of his little sanctuary, but at the time I was just too eager to see him. The growing hatred brewing inside of me could wait.

Calming myself, I neared the mausoleum and found its entrance, and slowly I eased myself inside.

Seto was sitting in his chair against the far wall, reading a book and I nearly cried when I saw him. He wore a simple black shirt, he looked breath-taking there and I wanted to throw myself in his arms and kiss his perfect lips. His face was held in such a concentrated gentleness, blue eyes gazing into the world his book provided for him, his rich chestnut hair combed, his bangs falling into his eyes. He sat so gracefully over the chair and was so intent on his book. I was positive he hadn't heard me come in.

But then he looked up at me, and my body sang when his blue eyes looked into mine. His expression remained unchanged. "Jou."

I knew in that simple expression, just from the way he looked at me, that he told the truth: he really didn't love me. It hurt so badly, just looking at his expression, that suddenly I felt the hurt build up inside of me and all I wanted was to get out. My blood screamed for Seto, my heart was racing and I wanted nothing more than to just throw myself at him. But I knew the truth, and the truth held me back.

So instead I came inside and presented the pendant to him, digging it out of my pocket and holding it up for him to see. I watched his eyes shift from me to the pendant, and his lips fell open.

"For you. Mai said you'd want it." I said.

The book fell from Seto's hands and clattered on the floor. I held it up for him to take it but it almost seemed like he was hesitant to take it. Finally he stood up and walked towards me. As Seto was reaching forward to take the pendant, I noticed his fingers were trembling. He grabbed it right out of my hands, as though it were treasure, and he wanted it more than anything. Once he held it all he did was stare at it, his blue eyes extremely wide, and his bottom lip shaking as though he were trying to say something. He continued to stare at it until he finally looked up at me, shock in his eyes like the others.

"You met Mai?" he asked quietly.

I shrugged. "Killed her."

There was deathly quiet, and Seto narrowed his eyes to me as though I was bullshitting him. "What do you mean you killed her?"

I scowled, and leaned back against his coffin in the middle of the room. "I...stopped her from living?"

Seto's not gonna win "Smartest Sire of the Year" either.

He stared at me for a good solid five minutes. I don't know what the hell he was thinking, but the look in his eyes showed me that obviously he didn't believe me. I didn't care, he didn't have to believe me. He got his necklace, and that was obviously all he wanted, because after awhile he looked down at the pendant in his hand and swept its smooth surface with his thumb. He looked like he was going to cry.

"Why did you bring it?" He asked in a quiet voice. "You could have given it to Yami."

I scowled, and then looked down at the floor so he wouldn't see how annoyed I was. "I know. I wanted to see you. I missed you."

I wasn't really expecting any kind of reaction outta Seto for revealing the fact I missed him. He had probably figured that out already and just didn't care, icy bastard that he is.

And of course, he dismissed my feelings almost immediately. "The blood gives you longing."

I looked up at him, and he moved back towards his chair. I stared at his back, literally feeling my heart ache as he sat down in his chair and continued looking at the pendant. Geez, it must have been really important.

He looked up at me again, probably to tell me to get the hell out. "How are you being treated at the coven?"

I shrugged and looked down at my feet. He was asking after my welfare, I guess that was some sign of affection, however puny. "I get lots of attention."

I was hoping this would stir some kind of jealousy in him, but obviously it didn't. He immediately asked: "Are you happy?"

I snorted. What a shitty thing to do, ask a stupid question like that. The asshole knew that I loved him, worshiped him, thought about him constantly, wanted him more than anything in the world. But I couldn't have him. So how the hell was I supposed to be happy?

"Am I supposed to be?" I asked after awhile, still staring at my shoes, not really expecting a reaction. Then I raised my head and looked at him. "Am I strong enough to go on by myself? Domino holds too much heartbreak for me."

I don't know why I said it. Truthfully, was I really thinking about leaving Domino? Not really. Seto was here, despite the fact we never saw each other, and I had friends in the coven. I was only two months old as a vampire, I probably only skimmed the abilities of my blood. I guess I said it because I was aching for his attention. If I threatened leaving Domino, maybe he would change.

Seto sighed and looked at me with all seriousness. "You should already know the answer to that."

He was right, I did.

I stood up angrily. I was so ready to leave, so sick of his bullshit. He got his precious necklace, he made me feel appropriately like shit, now it was time to leave. But as I turned to go, I saw Seto touch the surface of the necklace again, looking down at it like it was a sacred object, and I just shook my head.

"I know there's something you're not telling me." I said seriously. "Maybe something to do with that necklace. There was a reason Mai had it, and a reason you're so terrified of hunters."

Again Seto sighed heavily, and I knew he was anxious to get rid of me. "Wouldn't you have seen?"

He meant through the blood. I had completely forgotten about that, if I had sucked the bitch's blood, perhaps I would have had some answers for why Seto was the way he was. Hell she had his necklace, perhaps she was a key figure in his mysterious vampire past!

...Fuck. I'm never gonna win "Smartest Vampire of the Year".

So I confessed to hide my stupidity. "I crushed her neck. I didn't want her memories. Or her blood."

Seto rose his eyes to me a last time, and this time he looked at me differently. Before he held a gaze of exasperation, maybe a little contempt, but definitely resentment. Now he looked at me as though I was an angel, someone he had never seen before. I figured he was going to give me some bullshit line, but he just stared with that same intentness, and then his eyes softened.

"You're stronger than I first imagined, Jou."

Whatever, what was strength when you were unhappy? I pulled up the collar on my shirt, because I knew it was probably gonna be cold outside. I turned my back to him, and raised a hand. "Good night, Seto."

I knew his eyes were on my back as I left the mausoleum.

~*~

By the time I returned to the coven, it was nearly dawn and everyone had retired to their rooms, so I couldn't even vent to anyone about what happened with Seto. Annoyed, but tired at the same time, I went to my room and surrendered to my coffin. I knew one thing about this encounter, that I had to give Seto up, or I would never have peace. No matter how much it hurt, no matter how much my blood wanted him and my body ached for him, I had to let him go, or I would never move on.

* * *

**Next chapter: What you've all been waiting for. :P**

**A/N: Short chapter I know, I apologize. Next one will be nice and lengthy.**


	22. Chapter TwentyOne

1Chihiro Part I

Chapter Twenty-One

~*~

When it all comes down to it, all a vampire has for sure is time. When one can never get sick, never grow old and never die, time no longer feels like an enemy. When you're human, time passes quickly if you're happy. With vampires, it's the same.

But even as time passes, vampires are still conscious of the changing seasons. Summer was over and the kids were going back to school. I first noticed it when the clubs were scarce, and the advertisements for jeans were everywhere, and the scent of the air changed. I found myself thinking about the people in my mortal life I had to abandon, or more appropriately abandoned me. Off and on I thought about Otogi, wondered if the dipshit ever regretted what he said to me the last night we talked. And Anzu, but she was probably too caught up in her cheerleading to realize I was gone. I thought about Yugi, that poor little fag, what kind of abuse was he suffering this year?

This year, if I was human, I would have been a senior. This would have been my last year. It was hard to imagine that at the beginning of the summer, I was still human. I went to school, I paid the bills in my apartment, and every evening I longed for a visit from the vampire Seto. I hadn't seen Seto in a month, and although my body and blood resisted the idea, my mind was set. I had to wean myself off him, forget about him if I could, and carry out the remainder of eternity in solitude.

Well...except for Yami, Marik and Bakura. While it seemed my killing Mai hadn't left their minds at first, eventually they forgot about it and everything went back to normal. Well...close enough to normal. One night I came home to find Yami lecturing the two of them in one of the sitting rooms. I noticed on the floor in front of the fireplace laid the dead body of a gorgeous teenage student, with lavender dyed hair and bite marks all over his arms and down his front. His skin was ghostly. The smell of semen was rich in the air.

I had to laugh though. There's really no use in telling those two what to do, they'll just do what they want.

It wouldn't surprise me in the least if I find out they were fucking each other like rabbits. Two vampires with that bloodlust and that beauty...and depending on how long they lived together, fuck - it almost wasn't a question. Neither of them seemed attached outside the coven to any other vampire, and they never mentioned names of previous lovers or even their own sires, so I had the feeling they liked each other enough to let out a little sexual frustration on each other. Which was cool, I wasn't complaining, it was what Marik had done all those nights before, when we were in the shower. And I have to admit, I was grateful for it.

The only thing that really seemed to change in recent weeks was Yami. Although he was never thoroughly interested in showing up in the evenings when we were all together, he wasn't a total stranger. But now we were lucky if we saw him at all in a week. Whenever he did show up, it was never for very long (usually to yell or lecture the two louts) and he always had a very strict, strained look on his face. I wish the guy would just lighten up, but I guess it's no small feat to have to run a coven with both Marik and Bakura and at the same time try to maintain your sanity.

Things were dandy. No matter how bad things get, there's always the joy in feeding, and that never gets old. We frequented the nightclubs and the bars, we became widely known to most of the locals. I watched woman after woman literally offer themselves to Bakura, who was usually quite pleased to accept, but Marik would wave them away, because he had never been fond of fucking humans. And then there was me, sure I got approached from plenty of mortals, men and women, and I even fucked a couple of them here and there, if my body really needed it. But nothing connected. I couldn't feel anything spark inside me, nothing to tell me: this person is different. But it was probably best like that.

One month without Seto, the rest of eternity to go. As much as I would like to say this was gonna be a piece of cake, it wasn't going to be.

And my goal was particularly doomed when I woke up one night during the second week of September. As usual I woke up inside my coffin but I knew it was night, so the chucked the lid off the coffin til it fell on the floor and then I climbed out, yawned, stretched, and paused.

Something was...different. Something in the coven had changed. I could sense it, a strange feeling in the air, something in my blood was nagging at me. Something had happened, or something was going to happen. And while it wasn't really threatening, it certainly wasn't a good feeling. I knew I was gonna find out soon enough.

I showered, got dressed, and wandered through the coven looking for the others. I could hear faint voices through the walls, hushed voices indulging in a quiet, serious conversation. The closer I came to them, I recognized the one voice was Yami's. You can't forget that deep, sexy voice, even if it is voiced through the walls.

As I came closer to the living room, where I knew Yami and this other vampire were sitting, my blood suddenly perked, and a rich, handsome scent flooded the air. I stood up straight and closed my eyes. Seto. Seto was here.

But even though my blood was doing a happy dance, I paused and leaned up against the nearest wall. Did I really want to do this? Obviously he was here because he had something to discuss with Yami that concerned me, why else would he come? And since he was still here, I had to assume that he either wanted to see me or talk to me. Should I refuse to see him? Should I storm past them and go out to hunt? I knew that if I went to him now, I would cave and I would need him for the rest of eternity.

And I had already promised myself I wouldn't need him for eternity.

Needless to say, against my better judgment, my curiousity got the better of me. I wandered into the living room, alight with a roaring fire in the fireplace, and came face to face with Yami and Seto, who had been talking very seriously and lowly, until they realized I came inside and turned to look at me.

I stared at the two of them in question. Yami was seated on one of the couches, and a book was lying next to him. Seto was standing, as though he had just come in, which probably meant he had interrupted Yami's reading by the fire. Seto was wearing a long black jacket, made for the season's cool winds, and the fire made his big blue eyes glow beautifully. As soon as I came in, my eyes set on Seto and we just stared at each other for moments.

He had a slightly pained expression on his face, but he was so beautiful and my blood screamed for him so I hardly had the mind to wonder what was wrong with him. Kinda wish I knew what they were talking about before, though.

I couldn't help it, I smiled a little. A pained smile, because even though I was happy as hell to see him, I had to remind myself that he was still a heartless bastard who turned me and didn't love me. I walked towards the two of them casually, my eyes not leaving Seto's.

"Hey, look who's here." I tried to say in a cool tone. "Whatcha up to, blue eyes?"

For a brief moment, Seto looked down at Yami with a strange, determined look on his face. I wish I had the ability to read minds, because I had a feeling they were definitely exchanging a conversation here without my knowledge.

Seto looked at me again and did something very surprising. He held out his hand. "Come with me, I want to show you something."

~*~

I wasn't about to pass it up. I put on a jacket and wandered away from the coven with Seto at my side. Surprisingly he didn't seem too interested in using celerity to travel, we just took our time and walked. During the ten minute walk, hardly anything was said between the two of us. He probably realized that I was trying to go off my obsession of him, and I was trying to keep my mouth shut and wondered where the hell we were going.

We wandered into the Domino Projects, needless to say it's Domino's shithole for the bad, the worst, and the ugly. All around us was abject poverty, houses that were either condemned or abandoned, torn apart and in horrible condition. Cats and packs of dogs roamed the streets looking through garbage cans and making a lot of noise. We just glided through like two well dressed ghosts.

Eventually as we went through the projects, we came to a very large cemetery that stretched out for miles, not like the one where Seto's mausoleum was. The cemetery was very old; all the trees that grew were tall and had gnarled roots and smelled of age. The wrought iron fence was bent and twisted by the weather, by age, and probably by vandalism too.

Mounted on the corner of the fence was a massive stone sign. It was hard to read in the dark, and especially since it was covered by graffiti. But I squinted and was able to make out what it said.

Chihiro Cemetery.

"The Chihiro Cemetery?" I said aloud, and I noted a tone of question in my voice. "What are we going here?"

Seto stepped over the iron fence. "Come on."

I followed him and we continued our way inside, side stepping the graves and headstones. If I had been human, I wouldn't have followed anyone into this cemetery. I found myself surprised when I saw fresh flowers laid on some of the graves we passed. Who in their right mind had the bravery to come into this place?

And I have to admit, every now and then as we made our way through, I looked over my shoulder a couple of times to make sure nothing was following us. Several times I thought I heard moaning and quickened my walking pace to catch up with Seto. Seto was completely oblivious to it all, and if he wasn't oblivious, he was hiding it really well.

Eventually we came to what I imagined was our destination. We must have been a mile deep into this cemetery, because I couldn't see a road or a streetlight or anything in any direction I turned. In the shrouding darkness I noticed a single square of bright orange light, and it scared me at first. But I knew in an instant that it was a window. As my eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness, I realized that we were in front of the Chihiro Cemetery Mausoleum.

What the fuck, another mausoleum?

Except this one wasn't like Seto's mausoleum. This was a massive building, completely covered in vines and small flowers, so covered that you could even read the letters that identified it. We only stood looking at it for another moment before Seto guided me around to the back, carefully stepping on a few embedded stepping stones.

The place had two solid oak doors, cleverly hidden in the darkness, and without door knobs. I don't know how they opened, but Seto was able to push them open with no trouble. He went inside and I followed suite.

The inside of the room was entirely pale, peach marble. It was HUGE! It had a tall domed ceiling with a skylight, to let in the moonlight, and it was round. Against the wall closest to left of the door was a large fireplace and a fire was roaring in it. It front of the fire was two deep red couches, not new, but they looked very comfortable. To the right of the door was a curling staircase that lead into the upper level.

As I came inside, my shoes clacked on the floor. The air was hot and smelled of spice and was so comfortable that I could have easily fallen asleep. For some reason, I can't quite explain, I felt completely...at home.

Seto stood back by the wall and watched me with his hands in his pockets. I walked right past him and went towards the winding staircase, and without even asking permission or whatever, I climbed up and came into a loft bedroom. A massive stain-glass window was embedded in the wall to the left, and against the wall to the right was a massive four-poster bed. Against the very farthest wall was a great big armoire, solid dark oak and very beautiful. Next to the armoire was another fireplace, with another fire burning.

Behind me I heard Seto climb the stairs and he stood there watching me take everything in. I didn't really understand it...was this Seto's new place?

I turned around and faced him. There was something new in his eyes, a little bit of excitement it seemed. The smallest smile played on his lips.

I held out my hands. "...What's this?"

Seto smiled a little. "It's ours."

I stood there and blinked. Did I hear that right? Seto said it was...

"Ours?"

Seto nodded. "Yes."

I looked around the room once more, at the massive beautiful bed and the stain-glass window, and the marble floors that must have been bloody expensive and the fireplace that made everything comfortable. Did he want us to live here one at a time?

I looked back at him and shook my head. "I don't understand."

Seto pulled his hands out of his pockets and came towards me by a step or two. He had a faintly sad smile on his lips. "You can move between here and the coven, at your leisure. But I'll remain here."

Ah, I knew what he was doing. Finally, after my first three months as a vampire, he was opening his home to me. But I was confused. Seto didn't love me, so why was he inviting me to stay in his house when he probably knew I had a fairly comfortable life in the coven? Don't get me wrong, to live with Seto would be heaven, but this was really starting to confuse the hell out of me. Talk about your mixed signals.

I sighed. I can't deny that I loved it. I loved every bit of it. I loved the fact that it was the most beautiful pale marble on the floors and in the walls. I loved the warmth, and the size of it, and the subtleness of the decorum. I loved the stain-glass window, and wondered what it would be like to see the moon come in through it.

But I was still so confused. I turned to Seto and gave him a pained look. "Why did you do this?"

Seto's small smile vanished, and he looked about the room as though the bed and armoire were talking to him. "You're my childe. I want you to be happy."

Obviously that meant that I'd be happy if I was given the opportunity to share his home with him. Mentally I sighed and knew that I had to accept this as the highest victory I would ever get with Seto. If he wanted me to be happy, then surely he cared for me a little bit, even if it meant sacrificing his own happiness and his own solitude to meet my needs.

Nevertheless, it was a touching gesture, and I in turn was very touched. I couldn't help but smile brightly. I turned to Seto. "I love it. Thank you."

Coming up towards him, I hooked my arm around his neck and kissed him, I didn't care if he loved me or not, I loved our new haven, I was thrilled with the idea of living with Seto, so I was gonna fucking kiss him whether he liked it or not. Besides, an innocent peck never hurt anyone.

Fuck it felt good to kiss his lips again, his taste and smell was overwhelming, but I knew I couldn't make it go on forever. I meant to pull away but just before I did, I felt him kiss me back.

The kiss broke and I stared up at him while he stared down at me. His blue eyes were soft and gentle, his expression was unmoving. Suddenly I felt his arm snake around my waist and pull me just a little closer, and I squeaked a little in surprise. This was the closest we had been in months, I couldn't help but be totally surprised.

But hell, whatever! I wasn't gonna pass this opportunity up for anything in the world. But for some reason I felt hesitant. Suppose I fell into this trap and had my heart broken again. I couldn't take it. I would die.

But Seto leaned down and pressed his forehead against mine. "Jou..."

I simply couldn't handle it, my blood screamed for him, my body was already reacting to him. I pressed myself to his body and let his scent flood my nostrils. His forehead still pressed against mine and he leaned into me. My eyes fluttered shut as my mind reeled.

Fuck my heart. I needed him more than I ever needed air to breathe.

Our lips crashed together, and it was so different than ever before. Instead of him returning kisses simply to appease me, I could feel his passion in his kiss. His arm held me fast against him, pressing me further into his body. My one arm wrapped around his neck, my other hand grasped his sweater in my fingers, trying to pull him in closer. I was so turned on, his kiss nearly giving me an instant erection.

He moved me back towards the bed, and if my heart was beating it would have been racing. Was this really happening? I swept the tip of my tongue along Seto's lips, begging him to let me in. He obliged, opening his lips a little and my tongue snaked in to gently caress his tongue. The back of my knees hit the edge of the bed and I sat back down, breaking the kiss.

I looked up at Seto and he looked down at me intently. He was so beautiful, he looked like a tall beautiful god, and I was a slave to him, under the spell of his eyes. Anything he would have asked, I would have done it in an instant. I was completely his.

He seemed to understand my feelings on the matter. He kneeled down on the bed over me, and as I leaned back he leaned in, taking the side of my face in his hand and he kissed me again.

I didn't know what was happening. One minute we were wandering through this new beautiful mausoleum, and the next we were necking hard on this massive four-poster bed. I was pinned down under Seto's weight, delighting in the taste of his lips and the feel on his fingers clawing at my clothes. It was glorious, all I ever dreamed it would be. Pure bliss.

But...I felt something nagging at the back of my mind, a feeling I knew I couldn't get over. Confusion, because so recently he had confessed that he didn't love me, so why was he suddenly so eager to get physical with me? Maybe it was his blood yearning for me, like my blood yearned for him. But for some reason I didn't think that was it.

I knew instantly that this wasn't right...none of this was right. As much as I hated myself for it, I stopped everything. I lay perfectly still, didn't kiss him, didn't writhe under his touch. I went completely dormant, and soon after, Seto paused, broke the kiss on my lips and looked down at me in confusion.

"What's wrong?" He asked quietly.

I stared up into his sapphire eyes, and for some reason I couldn't help but think they were completely full of lies. He was doing this for some reason...it wasn't for love, it was for something else. I couldn't read minds, which was a drag, but I could sure read expressions.

I got up, did everything but shove Seto right off me, and I stood up and went towards the stairway but I didn't dare go down. I simply stopped and laid a hand against the cool marble wall. Behind me Seto sat up and stared at me, knowing that I obviously had something on my mind and was going to share it.

I turned around and faced him. His expression was soft but inquiring. I stared at him directly and drew up all my courage. "I want answers."

I'm sure if he had breath, he'd sigh heavily. He looked down at the floor as though this were a conversation he'd been dreading his entire life. I knew this conversation was going to completely ruin the chance of anything happening between us, but this had been going on long enough.

"You toy with me as a human," I began. "You turn me, you push me away, and now you're drawing me back. You've confessed that you don't love me, in fact you've made that more than clear. So why don't you just tell me the truth? What's really going on?"

After a moment of just staring down at the floor, like he couldn't face me, he finally looked up at me. "What I feel is...much more complicated then love."

I scowled. "Well how complicated? Is it hate?"

Seto shook his head. "I can't explain it."

"Try." I said, sticking my fists on my sides.

I could see the gentleness in his eyes was quickly turning to exasperation, but I didn't care. I wanted an explanation. He had jerked me around long enough, he could afford to spill some of his guts and confess what was really on his mind.

He stared at me almost in warning, like to drop the subject completely, but I wouldn't back down. I stood there and stared right back at him and waited patiently.

Seto stood up and he wrapped his right hand around the nearest bed post, as though he needed help standing. I always forget how massively tall he is, if he lifted his arm he could probably touch the ceiling.

"You are my only childe," Seto said in a hushed, sad voice. "I've...I've never been bonded to anyone this strongly before."

I could feel the scowl on my face melting. This was so confusing, so he admitted that there was something he felt between the two of us, even if it wasn't love. But what was it then? And why hadn't he spoken of this before?

"These emotions are..." Seto trailed out, searching for a word. "Different. More different than anything."

I knew what he meant, different from when I was human, when he just came around to toy with me and drink from my neck. Sure the blood gave us that connection, but was it really that different? I felt better as a vampire than I did as a human, suddenly my instincts for survival were nothing much to worry about, but the idea of eternity without someone to love was unbearable. My emotions became stronger, if nothing else. Why did his change?

I shook out my shoulders, silently pleading for information. "Why have you changed and I haven't?"

He looked right at me, as though I had asked the magic question, and the fire burned heavily in his blue eyes. "You are stronger than I am."

I shook my head softly, I didn't believe him. "How is that possible?"

I was a vampire of three months and who knew how old he was, two maybe three hundred years old, I didn't know. But how was it I was stronger than him if I was so young?

But Seto didn't know the answer to that. He shook his head, the same as I had done. "I don't know."

And I knew from the look in his eyes that he sincerely didn't know. It was as if he had been asking himself that for the past three months and just couldn't answer it.

We stood there in silence for moments before Seto did something completely shocking. He held out his arms to me and said very quietly: "Jou, come here."

I hesitated at first, because I didn't know what was going on exactly. He admitted feelings, a change of heart, however obscure they might be, and he admitted that I was stronger, which was probably something that he had a hard time coming to terms with. But I looked into his sapphire eyes and I saw something different, a softness and a sweet sadness and a certain kind of happiness, that told me things his words never would.

Maybe this was it...maybe this was what vampires experience as love...

I went to him, slowly, and he enfolded me gently in his arms and I just stuck to him like super glue, hugging him tightly and closing my eyes. This felt so right, it felt so perfect...all that I ever wanted since I had been turned was this right here. Seto and me in a place in the middle of nowhere where we were alone and free only to each other.

I could feel it in his body, a strange sort of peace had come over him. Maybe he was reconciling with himself. Maybe he was finally opening up and letting free his feelings. Whatever it was, it was different. But I could feel it in his embrace. He was free, in a way.

I pressed myself harder into him and closed my eyes. "You are all I've ever wanted, since the day I first saw you."

I felt him bury his nose into my hair and inhale my scent, which gave me the shivers at first, but then he delicately laid his chin on the top of my head and held me a little harder. "Then have me."

~*~

Next chapter: Super hot raunchy SEX SCENE! Or will there be...?


	23. Chapter TwentyTwo

**Chihiro Part I**

**Chapter Twenty-Two**

~*~

It felt like I was dreaming...the entire time it felt so surreal and incredible, and I didn't want it to end. I wanted to bask in this feeling forever...and ever...and ever. If this was what eternity was, eternity was heaven.

Seto began by kissing me gently and lying me down on our bed. I reached up and pulled him into me, and I was pinned under his weight when he began kissing my lips and nestling himself down against my body, trying to get comfortable. We fit together so perfectly, despite the fact he was so tall, but we were literally like two jigsaw puzzle pieces. You put us together and we just fit.

We laid like that for a long time, just kissing. It was as if we needed each other's lips to breathe, but not because we had no breath, there was no pauses. Seto's kisses were soft and gentle at first, as though he was just trying to taste me and see what I was like, and then they got heavier and harder. Every now and then I felt his tongue and every time I opened my mouth and invited him in, but he was taking his time with everything. Long and sweet and slow.

I started biting at his lips, I couldn't help it, he tasted so delicious and I was starting to get really horny. I bit lightly on his lower lip and I heard him grunt from inside his throat. After I bit him I swept his bottom lip with my tongue and that was when his tongue snuck out and we had a mad french kissing session that was getting me hotter than anything. It was a fight for dominance, despite the fact that he was on top of me, I was just as ferocious in my kisses as he was. I needed him so much.

I hooked my one arm around his neck, to make my kisses harder, and with my other hand I grazed over Seto's top. The fabric was so soft and luxurious that I couldn't help but touch it with my entire hand, and grasp it in my fingers and pull a little. Then my hand wandered down, further and further, until I touched the cool metal of his belt and knew I was close. I went down just a little more and touched Seto through his pants.

This time he broke the kiss and bit down on his lower lip, and I couldn't help but grin. I always knew that Seto would be sensitive to my touch. But he reached down and took my hand in his and brought it back up next to my head. "Not yet..."

I grinned because I was in total agreement, and I reached up and claimed his lips once more, a little harder than before. My hands were all over him, touching as much as I could, down his back and into his chestnut locks, all while we stayed locked at the lips, battling each other's tongues. I wanted to tear his clothes off and be naked with him, lie with him in nothing but skin, but I had to remind myself to go slow. Go slow and enjoy everything, just bask in it all. This was what I wanted for the past six months.

Seto broke the kiss and I sighed happily, sinking down into the covers, when I felt his lips pepper kisses along my jawbone and down my neck. I knew if I had a heart, it would be beating so fast right now, because his fingers were at the buttons on my shirt. He undid them all and opened my shirt until my chest was exposed, and then I felt his chilly hands sweep down along my ribs and hips. I moaned a little and rose my hips up into his. I was so horny, my blood was on fire.

Seto chuckled as he swept his tongue over my Adamn's apple. "Anxious?"

"A little." I admitted, and I swept my hands up along his shirt and immediately began unbuttoning it. Seto leaned forward to kiss my lips as his shirt came undone. Seto's skin was as white as the moon, soft and so touchable.

But I wanted to go faster I leaned up into Seto's kiss, my shirt falling down my arms, until we were sitting up on our knees. I wrapped my arms around Seto's neck to bring him closer, and as I did so, I nestled myself into his lap. I wanted to tease him a little, provoke him a little but I refrained. I just wanted this to last.

Seto shook off his shirt and his hands help my hips as he pressed up into me. I bit down on my lip, wanting to scream for him to just take me, but I remembered to go slow. It was hard to do since I was so horny.

I finally wrestled Seto down onto his back, where I covered him with my body and began kissing him anxiously, and before I could help myself, I was undoing his belt. I couldn't stand it any longer, I needed him, all of him. Once his belt was done I hooked my thumbs into the belt loops and forced his trousers down off his hips to his knees, revealing silky black boxers, which were tented. I touched Seto gently through his boxers, and I felt him shudder. He froze completely under my touch, as though it shocked him, and for a moment I wondered if we were going too fast. So I gently drew myself back up over him and kissed him again.

Seto rolled me onto my back and kissed me gently, while his right hand unzipped my zipper and unbuttoned my jeans. I screwed my eyes shut, my crotch was going absolutely crazy, and the feel of his fingers tortured me. I lay dormant and let him slide my jeans down off my sharp hips until they came down along the ankles and went flying over the side of the bed. I stared at him as best I could, seeing his gorgeous brown locks catching the firelight.

But Seto rose up to meet my eyes and kissed me, and I kissed him back, wrapping my arms around his neck. Finally we were in our skin, save for the boxers, but I was sure they'd be gone momentarily.

And sooner than anticipated. We were kicking them off each other, don't ask me how it happened, but we did. Next thing I knew I was lying with Seto in my arms, feeling his erection touch mine, and I shuddered hard.

We kissed and rolled about on the bed for a good long time, as though we needed to get more aroused than we already were. I kissed Seto all over, along his ribs and up to his neck, peppering kisses along his jawbone until he bent his head to meet my lips. When the kiss was broken, Seto was looking deep into my eyes, those big blue sapphire eyes staring at me intently, burning with the firelight, and despite the fact he was obviously enjoying himself, I could sense a bit of hesitation.

But I wanted to make sure he wouldn't feel it for long. I stared back at him, heaved, and slid down along his body. I felt his hand in my hair, tossing about my gold locks, and I heard him shudder. "Jou..."

I held him down, and my lips were at his hardened erection in a mere instance. I listened to his whimpers as I bowled the head of him in my tongue; already I could taste his salty sweetness. I slipped him deep into my mouth until I was filled, and his scream was both of aching and of pleasure. In and out I slipped him, my tongue bathed him in tasty swirls, and I could hear him groan like an animal in heat. I tasted him already, beads came that delighted of his taste and I was thirsty for him.

His fingers were in my hair and squeezing, pushing me down as though he'd never had a blowjob before and found it to be the most incredible thing ever. Beneath me his hips jerked a little and I could hear his frustrated groans. Still I continued to suck him, hard as I could. I wanted him to love this, every single moment of it. After all, I wanted to repay him for the new coven. It was a lovely gesture, after all, didn't he deserve a token of my appreciation?

Seto stopped me after a few moments. He whispered to me, and I rose my head from his crotch, and looked up into his eyes. He stared down at me. "Jou, you don't have to do that."

I grinned. "I want to."

I bent my head down again and swallowed him whole. When you have no breath, it's actually a lot easier than you'd imagine. He thrust his hips up, and his fingers tightened in my hair and pushed me down. I sucked him for a long time, it seemed, before I felt his body shift and I knew that he was ready to get down to the deed. I sat up gingerly and looked down at Seto, bathed in the firelight, and he reached up to take me in his arms. I hugged him briefly, kissed him, and then he laid me back down onto the sheets.

He pushed my legs forward, positioning himself. I could feel his tip at my hole and I shook with anticipation. Trying to relax, I settled back into the cool sheets, stretching my arms out over my head. With a lingering kiss Seto did not hold back, and he pushed himself into me. I screamed out in pain, because it hurt like fuck, moreso than with any other partner, and Seto took advantage of my open mouth to dip his tongue into my mouth, drowning out my scream. I couldn't help but moan; the pain was hard but it felt so damn good. Something about the vampirism made pain intensify into pleasure. Seto paused as he kissed me, for both our benefits, letting me adjust to his length. It still hurt like hell, but his kisses were beginning to numb the pain.

But then something touched my tongue, and as soon as I tasted it, my eyes shot open and my entire body seized. Seto's blood was flooding my mouth. My fingers clenched the sheets beneath me and I closed my eyes and savoured the taste. Take my word for it, there's nothing quite like taking in blood from your sire, it's like receiving the elixir of life and the elixir of life tastes like gold.

The blood numbed everything and intensified his touch. His hands on my skin electrocuted me, and he felt incredible inside of me. As soon as I swept my hands up over his shoulders Seto wasted no time. He pulled out from my body, and slammed back in. I swallowed the blood and let out a cry of pleasure, gripping his arms with my hands. His breath became ragged, he grabbed my hips, and continued to thrust over and over into me. I'm not gonna deny it, I writhed beneath him, clenched my eyes closed and held to him like my life depended on it.

Seto paused for a moment, and adjusted himself just a little. I wasn't really paying attention because I was in a damn near state of delirium. But whatever he did was a miracle, because when he next thrust into me, I screamed out in pleasure, my eyes snapping open, and I threw my arms up around Seto and arched my back. I let out a scream of pleasure, so loud that I'm sure people walking past the cemetery were wondering what was going on inside the cemetery.

Seto picked up the pace with his thrusts, hitting my prostate every time. He began to kiss me violently on my mouth and neck, nibbling, never slowing his thrusts, picking up the pace.

I'm sure it went on for awhile, but you know how it is. When you're on the receiving end of bliss, bliss always comes to an end far too quickly than you'd like. I was beginning to feel the roll of orgasm coming, and I tightened my legs around his waist, trying to make it last as long as I could. Seto didn't hold back, putting everything he had into his last few thrusts, suddenly fisting my erection and pumping it along with his thrusts. I was on overload, writhing under his touch, as he thrust harder and harder and harder...

I squirted hard all over my stomach, and Seto let out a long, low groan and climaxed. His hips bucked sharply against me and he bit down on his lip. There's nothing quite so incredible as watching Seto climax. You think he's beautiful just on his own, but when he's naked and sweaty and in the middle of an orgasm, he's a god, and you lie there wondering how is it that I was lucky enough to have found him? To have him in my life?

My legs fell from around Seto's waist and I fell limp against the bed sheets. Seto collapsed down on top of me before pulling out carefully and falling down beside me.

I was very still for a moment, staring up at the canopy of the bed. Seto watched me for moments, and ran his hand over my forehead and through my sweaty bangs. I looked over at my beautiful maker, for a mere moment, before sliding over and cuddling into his body, kissing him on the lips for moments, before wrapping my arms around him. I laid my head on the pillow, and was asleep almost instantly.

~ I love you, ya bastard. ~

I didn't say it, but I know he heard it.

~*~

I didn't stay. I got up, got dressed and left as quietly as I could to skulk about the night, fucking miserable even though I should have been the happiest vampire ever. I couldn't help but think everything, from the new mausoleum to the passionate sex, was nothing but a smoke screen. Something had changed between us, but it was not newfound love, nor was it really newfound lust. It was just...strange.

How could I have been stronger? And what did stronger even mean, really? Stronger physically, mentally, emotionally, maybe my blood was stronger? Didn't make sense for a three-month-old fledgling to be stronger than his timeless sire. But I had a feeling I wouldn't get the answer from Seto.

But Yami...Yami would know, he and Seto had some strange understanding, no doubt Seto confessed things to Yami that he would never confess to me. It made the most sense to go to Yami and find some things out.

~*~

My two favourite twits were absent, making Yami's presence far more potent and overpowering. I found him exactly where we left him earlier, in his seat reading a book. When I came in he looked at me curiously, as though he hadn't expected to see me again for a long time. Guaranteed, if Seto had shared with him the plans of the evening, he'd probably be wondering why I was coming back to the coven a few hours before dawn instead of laying in the bed at the mausoleum, sexed up and shut up.

He put down his book and sat up. "Jou, are you all right?"

I shuffled inside. "I need to talk to you."

Yami stared at me, and then gestured to the seat in front of him. I came over and sat down.

"I'm so confused about Seto." I confessed.

Yami stared intently, and suddenly his eyes filled with concern. "What happened?"

"Nothing, I just...well, not nothing, lots happened, I guess that's the point."

Fuck, why is it so hard to discuss your feelings with people? You'd figure as a vampire maybe it'd be easier, but it isn't.

Yami obviously saw I was struggling with what to say, because he lowered his eyes for a moment. "Take your time. Start at the beginning."

I pressed my fingers together, I crossed my legs, I tried to piece it together in my head and spit it out in a way that was in the least bit understandable.

I think he meant from when I was human, so that was where I started. "He visited me when I was human...and fed from me. But sometimes he fed before coming to me, so what was the point of visiting? I liked to think that it was love, some sort of feeling he had for me, something he reciprocated. But then he told me that he wanted to give me something in life to...love, I suppose."

Fuck, this was difficult. It hadn't even happened that long ago, but I was struggling to remember every detail, anything I thought might help in some revelation. But so far, I think I was just throwing up word vomit, and Yami was looking at me like I was a blabbering idiot.

"So he turns me, and then it's all ice cold. Nothing, not a touch of warmth, just appeasement. He even abandons me here, like he's so sick of having to look at me. But then I killed Mai..."

At this I noticed something in Yami, the slightest change. For a brief moment, as I spoke the bitch's name, Yami's eyes shifted away as though I had mentioned something completely forbidden. I shook my in disbelief, making accusing. "I killed Mai and suddenly everything changed. Suddenly I'm stronger than him, a three-month-old vampire stronger than Seto Kaiba."

Yami looked at me very seriously, his violet eyes flashing in the firelight. Fuck he looked hot like that, but this wasn't really a time to be ogling him. "You are the strongest fledgling we have ever beheld."

I leaned forward and scowled. "Why? Tell me why. There must be a reason for it."

Yami shook his head. "The gift is different for all of us. For most of us it is a simple improvement. The coming of immortality, where death and sickness can never touch us again, where we are gifted with strength and speed and everlasting youth...but for you it's evolved quicker than we've ever seen before."

I felt my shoulders sag. Obviously I wasn't going to get a real answer. "Yami, why is it evolving quicker with me? I don't feel any different."

Yami shook his head slowly. "I don't know, Jounouchi. None of us do."

Oh, so the lot of them got together to talk about it? Probably, considering Seto and Yami had been talking quite seriously earlier that night. Fuck this was frustrating, all you want is answers and not even the oldest vampire you know can provide them for you. What a fucking joke.

Then again, if he didn't know, I guess he didn't know, and neither did Seto. I guess I couldn't stay angry with them over that.

But there was one other thing, perhaps something Yami could answer. "Why does Seto look at me as though he's afraid of me?"

After a long time, I realized that's what Seto was probably doing. He had feelings of resentment, perhaps fear, fear because I was stronger. And then we had sex possibly as another appeasement?

Yami stared at me and very seriously he said: "You are not only stronger than Seto, but you are greater. For any sire, that is quite something to behold, for Seto Kaiba has always been formidable. But you, Jounouchi, are fast becoming something more than any of us could ever have imagined."

~*~

I sauntered back to the mausoleum, taking the long route so that my head could digest everything Yami had told me. In part I couldn't believe any of it, I figured he was just saying it to flatter me, and to get me to stop asking stupid questions, and maybe to get me to ask my sire these stupid questions instead of wasting his time. But on the other hand he seemed so serious about it all, so no-nonsense.

Seto was still asleep when I came inside, and for a moment all I did was stand there and stare at him. The fire was dying in the fireplace, so I could only see the faint glow on his beautiful sleeping face. He was undisturbed, perfectly frozen, naked, and waiting. As much as I wanted to crawl into his arms and snuggle against his body, which aligned so perfectly with my own, I had to deeply consider it.

"Are you afraid of me?" I whispered into the darkness.

* * *

**Next chapter: Jou gets a surprise, and then another surprise! Apparently it's going to be a very surprising chapter.**

**A/N: OMG I have no idea why this was such a hard chapter to write. Many apologies. Next chapter will come much quicker, I promise you!**


	24. Chapter TwentyThree

**Chihiro Part I**

**Chapter Twenty-Three**

~*~

I woke up and Seto was gone. A new glowing fire was booming in the fireplace and the rest of the mausoleum was undisturbed. My guess was that Seto had gone hunting, which I was thankful for. It gave me a chance to make my escape.

I wasn't really up to the awkward discussion of last night's fuck-fest, or the emotionally unstable discussion of what we were going to do from now on. So I got dressed and left the mausoleum. It was raining, typical Domino autumn, but it meant my primary way of moping (i.e. wondering aimlessly) was no longer attractive. The coven was too far away, so I couldn't succumb to the comforting/exasperating company of Marik and Bakura So as I wandered into the downtown area, I decided it was best to park in some quiet pub somewhere and do some serious thinking.

I found one right away, little hole in the wall, but it was warm, dry, and damn near deserted. Perfect. I was the youngest one in there by far, because as soon as I walked in, all manner of bikers, tattoo addicts, welfare collectors and men with missing teeth, looked at me and practically sneered, maybe because of my looks, my clothes, my youth, whatever, they could go fuck themselves.

I sat at the bar and the bartender regarded me rather inharmoniously. "Whadda'll ya have, son?"

"Beer." I replied, not looking at him, and I thought he would give me attitude, but he just wondered away down the bar.

I crossed my arms and shook out my hair. All around me there was the low hum of conversation, but I blocked it all out. The bartender gave me my beer and I took a swing as soon as he walked away. It was disgusting, tasted like piss, so I swallowed it quickly and just stared into the bottle.

My mind wandered, and I thought more and more about what would happen next between Seto and me. Would our relationship grow and become stronger, or would he crumble under the weight of my supposed vampire greatness? I'd never been seen as great before, so how was I evolving, and what was I evolving into? A vampire more powerful than the elders?

Some schmuck sat down beside me and interrupted my train of thought. As much as I wanted to tear open his throat, I didn't think it would go over well with the other patrons. The guy was a sleaze, greased black hair, gold medallions around his neck, dressed in shiny gun metal pleather…god, not many of these in Domino, but when they're here, they're hardcore.

"Hey kid," he nudged me, testing my patience even further. "You wanna buy some blow?"

I looked at him and gave him the most dangerous glare I could fathom. He paid no mind, was high, I guess. "From you, are you serious?"

He sniffed and wiped his nose. "You don't want blow, I've got other stuff. I can get you anything you want. Blow, grass, Hawaiian ice, prostitutes…anything you want."

"I want you to leave me the fuck alone, think you could do that?"

The asshole chuckled. "C'mon kid, I can spot a broken heart from a mile away, and you know I've got what's good for what ails ya."

Man, this guy could not take a hint. I gripped my beer bottle hard, hoping it would shatter under my brute strength, and the guy would back off. But it was the beer that did gave me the idea. I couldn't drink it, it couldn't quench my thirst, and I was very thirsty. I spied the bartender, who was looking at us suspiciously. He probably didn't want any drug deals going down in his establishment. So I fished around in my pocket and put a five on the bar, got up and nodded for the prick to follow.

Everyone watched us leave, which made me wary. I figured maybe this prick wasn't really selling what he was offering. We left the bar and wandered down into the nearest alleyway. Sure enough, as suspected, as soon as it was dark enough, the prick pulled a switchblade on me.

"Okay blonde, I don't want no funny stuff. Give me your wallet nice and slow."

I snorted, like it was the stupidest thing I'd ever heard. "What?"

"You wanna get your throat slit?"

What a moron, truly laughable. With one slap his blade was knocked away, and I gripped his pleather jacket and pushed him up against the nearest wall. I didn't even wait to bite him.

Y'know it's always interesting to realize a person's true intentions. This asshole saw me in the bar and the money signs started rolling in his eyeballs. Aside from robbing people at knife point after the promise of drugs, he'd rob you, sometimes kill you. As I drank I chuckled, the guy truly was a dumb shit. Oh the people you find in Domino City!

I let the body fall and tumble, but as I looked at it, I knew I'd have to dispose of it. Plenty of people in the bar could probably describe my face to a cop, and the last thing I needed was cops banging down the door on the mausoleum. I bent down to grip his legs. I figure a routine dump in the river would suffice. But as I hoisted him up, I saw something fall out of his pants pocket. I dropped his legs, leaned down to pick it up, and gasped.

It was a plastic bag full of money!

There was easily one-hundred thousand yen here! I don't know in the end what he was selling, but his profits were mine now.

~*~

Seto was there when I ran back to the mausoleum, sitting in front of the fire with a book. If I hadn't been so distracted by the money and the excitement that the money brought with, I would have seen that he was staring into the fire, and not reading his book, thinking the deep thoughts.

The concept that I was a greater vampire then Seto was gone as I came inside, screaming like a girl. "Seto, look at this! Some evil doer I had, he's like a fucking millionaire!"

Seto was completely indifferent, looking at the money in my hands and not changing his expression at all. "Many evil doers are."

Again, totally oblivious to the tone in his voice: "Well c'mon, let's go out! Let's celebrate! I need some new clothes, let's go shop!"

He looked at the money in my hands, looked at me, smiled sadly, and shook his head. "No, you go ahead, I want to stay in. Have fun."

I would have been more sympathetic, sat down to talk and all that, but I'd never seen this much money in my life, so off I went without a second thought, leaving Seto to the fire and to his book.

~*~

In ways that Seto was not the greatest sire, there were always others to make up the damage. I went to the coven, and the twits were there fighting about something or other. All I did was flash the money and shout: "Let's go splurge!"

And following that came: "Fuck yah!"

~*~

We went to Petruchio, probably the most expensive causal clothing store for men in Domino City. When I was human I could have only dreamed of owning something from this store. We were immediately approached as soon s as we came in. I guessed it was because of my torn dirty jeans and pale blue plaid top and shoddy sneakers. Next to Marik and Bakura, who both dressed like sex symbols, I looked like a teenage hobo, so my guess was that the guy wanted me in particular to leave.

"May I help you?" asked the well-dressed, nose in the air salesman.

Before I could open my mouth, Marik scowled. "Point my friend in the direction of your most expensive, and then go powder your nose."

I think my face froze in horror, but Marik was firm and Bakura was indifferent. I thought for sure the guy would kick us out, but typically if Marik voiced his want, you complied for fear of the consequences. The guy's face went red, and he cleared his throat. "Second floor, gentlemen."

I smiled. "Thank you." And we walked on past.

I went on glamour overload. When I was human there wasn't really the money to dress to the nines. I looked at sweaters, shirts, button-ups, turtlenecks, slacks, dark-wash jeans and even leather pants. Everything had to be black, to blend with the night, and because black goes best with blond hair. Gotta stay sexy.

"Fuck Jou, I want your hair." Bakura grumbled bitterly, as they watched me model a black top and a set of leather pants in one of those huge clothing store mirrors. I looked pretty hot, if I do say so myself.

Marik shrugged. "You could scalp him."

"I would," Bakura said. "If I didn't think Kaiba would fucking castrate me if I did."

Speaking of Kaiba, I thought maybe I'd share my little victory. Even though I didn't really consider it a victory. "We had sex last night, eh?"

There was a fleeting moment of shock that crossed both their faces, followed by big grins and triumphant wolf howls, true Marik and Bakura fashion.

"Now you're a couple I wouldn't mind watching." Marik said in an especially sexy way, grinning his evil grin. "How was it?"

"Well…" How to describe it? The sex was glorious, but afterwards I booked it right out. Plus the weird heart to heart we had before having sex. So I shrugged. "It was…good. But Seto got a little…cold."

They shrugged it off like it was no big deal. Marik especially seemed to empathized. "Yeah, that's Kaiba. Icy bastard, he's been through so much."

"Yeah, I'm surprised he created you." Bakura said, and then (I'm guessing by my shocked facial expression, he shrugged again). "No offense."

But what were they talking about? What kind of stuff had he been through? What did they know, what weren't they telling me? Yami wouldn't tell me, so if they knew, surely they would tell me. I opened my mouth to ask them to tell me everything, everything about Seto that they knew.

But then the world seemed to fall apart I suddenly heard a voice that would have made my heart stop, if it were still beating. It was shrill feminine voice that rang directly in my ear, calling my name. "Jou?"

I turned around and came face to face with Anzu.

"Oh my god Jou, it is you!" she shrieked and launched herself at me. My first instinct was the back away and then to push her off me when she threw her arms around my neck and hugged me.

Oh shit, what do you do when you run into someone you knew when mortal, who probably thought you were dead? I looked at Marik and Bakura, who both had looked of total disgust on their faces, most likely because she was female. What was she doing in Petruchio anyway?

She stopped hugging me and looked me up and down. Were those tears in her eyes? Nice to know she hadn't lost her bubblehead disposition. "Oh my god Jou, where have you been? You didn't show up to the biology exam and we went to your place and your landlady told us you hadn't been around for days, and then you weren't at your dad's, we…we thought you were dead!"

Wonderful, fucking wonderful. Had it ever crossed her mind that perhaps I was just a little too sick of this city and moved on? What business was it of hers, anyway? We were never that great of friends. But who was this "we" she was talking about?

"Who's we?" I asked her finally, at a loss of what else to say to her.

For a moment her expression faltered, like she didn't understand something. "Me and Otogi."

Oh, WHAT THE FUCK EVER! I nearly said it right in her stupid face, but then I noticed she was examining me very carefully. She looked over my face and at my hair and into my eyes, like she had never seen me before but recognized me somehow.

"Jou, are you okay? You look…different." She said in a confused tone, looking me up and down, continuing to look into my eyes and at my hair. Ah, of course, my hair was brighter, my skin was paler, my eyes were more vibrant…surely she'd have to be blind not to have noticed it. How do I explain this?

"I'm fine." I said to assure her, but even my voice sounded too faulty.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Anzu insisted and reached forward to touch my face. "Your skin's really…pale."

I noticed for the first time that she was wearing a uniform, a nice blue number with a big nametag with her name on it. Ah, so she worked here. I shot myself in the foot the moment we came in here, wonderful.

"Sweetheart," Marik said in a dull, almost annoyed tone, and Anzu looked over at him. I looked at him too, and they both had these looks of total annoyance on their faces, like they were in the middle of a huge party and someone came along to crash it.

"He says he's fine, he's fine." Marik stated in a matter-of-fact way. "Why don't you move along."

So of course Anzu went into her little prissy bitch mode. She scowled tightly, stuck out a hip, and put her fist on it, like she was about to tell him off. "Excuse me? I'm talking to Jou, asshole, not to you." She clucked her tongue in annoyance. "Learn some manners."

Ooh, not good. I watched the fire turn deadly in Marik's eyes, as he uncrossed his arms and ever so slowly advanced on her. "You know what happened to the last little bitch who told me to learn some manners?"

Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit! I threw out my arms to stop him, because he was advancing on her quick, and there was a hatred burning in his eyes. I knew if I didn't stop him, he was going to hurt her really bad, maybe even kill her. I had to stop him. "Marik, please."

I looked at Bakura, who was watching me with a bored expression. But all it took was one look at him and he nodded. He uncrossed his arms, touched Marik's shoulder, and the big guy seemed to calm down a little, or at least enough so they could be on their way. Marik sauntered out, eyes lingering on Anzu with anger.

Bakura gave Anzu a small, unimportant nod. "See ya later, busty."

They went off quietly and disappeared out of the room. I let out a breath of relief, thank god; all they would do is interfere.

Anzu turned back to me and she was down right pissed off, I could see it in her face. "Jou, what the hell is going on? Do you know those men?" she pointed in the direction that Marik and Bakura wandered off. "Have you been living with them? Is that where you've been?"

I sighed. God, what a pain in the ass. No wonder most vampires kept such a low profile, it was so that the mortals they knew when they were alive would leave them the fuck alone. Wish I'd thought of that before coming in here. "Anzu, I can't explain right now."

That was all I could offer her as I moved towards the change room to collect my old clothes (which were headed right for the dumpster), and when I turned back to her, the angry look in her face had disappeared. Now she looked as though she had seen a ghost.

"Why do you look so different?" Anzu said quietly, as though she were scared to death of my answer. "You move differently. What's happened to you?"

Before I could say anything, one of the salesmen came out of nowhere and gave me a long, smooth black envelope. He handed it to me with one of the biggest smiles I'd ever seen. Not surprising too, since I nearly bought out their entire store. "Your bill, Mr. Jounouchi."

"Uh…" I fished around in the pocket of my old, dirty jeans. I found the bundle of money, took it out and gave him half of it, assuming there would be plenty to cover the bill. "Thank you…uh, here you are."

The salesman graciously took the money and nodded respectively, continuing his goofy smile. "Thank you very much, sir."

And he turned on his heel and walked away. I sighed inwardly because I knew this was gonna raise a lot more questions from Anzu, who was still staring at her coworker wandering away from us. She turned back to look at me, and her annoyed face was back.

"Jou where did you get all that money? Are you dealing drugs?"

I felt my eyes roll instinctively. My head was starting to hurt now, the way that it did whenever Anzu was around when I was human. Always questioning, always interfering. What would I have to do to make her shut up, leave me alone and stay the fuck out of my life?

"Yes, sure…why not. I'm dealing drugs. Why don't you tell everyone that's what I've been doing."

I figured she was gonna blab to everyone at school that I had dropped just before senior year. She may as well tell everyone that I'd turned into something a little more interesting, like becoming a drug dealer buying the hottest clothes in Domino.

Obviously she didn't share my enthusiasm. She stuck a hand on one hip and scowled really tightly. "Jou-"

"Oh, and in the meantime, why don't you tell everyone I'm gay? Like I told Otogi!"

I don't know why I said it. I guess it was exasperation mixed with annoyance mixed with pure anger and hatred for everything I knew about Anzu and Otogi and my mortal life. I didn't need them and I didn't need this. Anything to get her to shut up, go away, never return. Whatever.

Her expression faltered and words failed her. She stared at me with wide eyes and her scowl was gone instantly. She looked at me as though I had called her the biggest fucking cow in the country and now she was gonna run home and tell her mommy.

Well I'll tell you what, she did run.

She turned on her heel and sped off, without another word, as though she just learned I had the plague. The sight of her back made me even angrier. What the fuck, we were talking and she just turns around and leaves?

"Yeah, that's right Anzu, run." I called after her, fairly angry at this point and wanting to make her feel scared. "Just run, that's all you're ever good at!"

I watched her until she went down the stairs, and I presumed that she was going to leave the store, even though she obviously worked here. I don't know why, but suddenly I was so angry, my blood was roaring. I wanted to instill the worst type of fear into that useless girl, all she ever did when I was mortal was either make me feel inferior or dopy. Well now look at me…I was beautiful, I was strong, I was fast, I was the strongest fledgling ever beheld!

I stood there for a few moments, fuming, while I heard Marik and Bakura wander back in and stand behind me, as though wondering where the bitch had gone. But I think they got the gist of what happened.

As I calmed down a little, realized that I should have been happy, as I had tons of new clothes to take home with me, I was challenged.

It was Bakura, in his droll voice. "You realize you have to kill her, right?"

~*~

* * *

**Next chapter: I think you might know.**


	25. Chapter TwentyFour

**Chihiro: Part One**

**Chapter Twenty-Four**

**~*~**

There's something very thrilling about stalking someone you know with the intent to kill. I know how horrible that sounds, but it's true. As I stalked Anzu, I felt a thrill like none I've ever felt before, it made the hairs on the back of my neck stand right up. I stood in wait until Petruchio's closed, and watched her leave and hurry away down the street towards the nearest bus stop. As soon as she could, she pulled out her cell phone and began dialing a number. I knew it wouldn't be wise to bite her while she was on the phone, so I followed close to hear her conversation.

It struck me that Anzu was not too terribly bright. Here it was dead of night with hardly any streetlights around, and she was blabbing away on her cell phone as if she were untouchable. Anyone out for blood would have had an easy time going after Anzu.

I nearly froze right in my tracks when I heard who she was talking to. "Otogi, it's Anzu."

For the split moment of silence I was inclined to turn around and leave her alone. A part of me didn't want to hear this conversation she was going to have over the phone with Otogi. I didn't want to think about him, I didn't want to hear about him, and frankly I didn't want to think or know about Anzu either. Sure I needed to kill her, now that she's seen me alive and well, but maybe it didn't have to be like that. Maybe I could leave her alone and she would just forget about me.

Anzu's tone was exasperated as she sighed into her cell phone. "No, this is important! I just ran into Jou." She paused for a moment, and then her voice became sharper and angrier. "Jounouchi Katsuya, you jerk-off, what other Jou do we know?!"

I felt a weird feeling in my stomach the entire time I followed her, like I was gonna be sick even though I'm pretty sure that's impossible, now that I'm a vampire and all. Was Otogi playing dumb, like he didn't know who was talking about? Or was he legitimately oblivious?

"He was buying a shitload of clothes with cash!" Anzu went on, rather hysterically. "I think he might be drug-trafficking!"

I rolled my eyes. Trust Anzu to jump to conclusions with absolutely no evidence. I looked around the street, because I knew if I was going to take her, it had to be soon. But I didn't want anyone around. No doubt she was gonna be a screamer.

The tone in Anzu's voice changed from annoyed to concerned, slightly of the hysterical side. "Yes you should care, you dumb fuck, he's our friend!"

That hurt…deep. The fact that Otogi was telling Anzu that he didn't care to hear about me, that's not the greatest thing to hear, especially when you once had the most massive crush on the guy. I felt my heart sink into my stomach and once again I felt like I was gonna be sick and tried to suppress the feelings of nausea.

Then Anzu said the thing I was dreading, the one question she could ask that would totally ruin everything. "Otogi, did he tell you that he was gay? Is that why you don't care?"

I knew it, right then and there, that this was her time to go. I launched forward into celerity, the night about me blurring as Anzu came closer and closer, and with my hands I gripped both her shoulders and wrenched her back into my body. The cell phone flew from her grip and I heard her let out a startled, muffled shout as I dug my fingers into her collarbone and moved my other arm to grip her around the waist. She struggled instantly, and to avoid anybody seeing us (though I figured the street was too dark and too deserted), I began to drag her into a nearby alley, and that was when she began to scream.

I took special precaution to make sure she didn't see it was me who was attacking her. I had the most incredible fear that I wouldn't drain her completely, and somehow she would recover, and when she did she'd be able to identify me as her attempted killer, and the city's police would be on the prowl for my face. So far in my three months as a vampire, I've not drained someone who's survived, so it was an irrational fear, but nonetheless it was a fear and I chose to act wisely on it.

I bore my fangs and bit into her neck, and her screams melted into shudders. Her body gave a sudden twitch but I held her fast, especially when her full, rich blood began to spill onto my tongue.

As the blood came, so did her memories. Within moments I began to see everything; a typical nuclear family home life, comfortable and rewarding with loving parents and interesting siblings, and a fairly stable student career. As soon as she came to Domino High School, she met Otogi and Honda and me, and she hated the lot of us at first. We were pretty nasty, I'm not gonna lie. I guess that's why she mostly kept with her cheerleaders and dancing friends. Whatever.

But then I saw things that I didn't know about. Anzu and Yugi Motou, they were actually kinda…friends. She was nice to the kid, and stood up for him when homophobes harassed him, and he would flush whenever she waved to him in the hall or said hello to him. In one of her memories, she took a break from her cheerleading class to run over to Yugi, who was quietly sitting and reading a book, and say hello. She seemed to genuinely like him.

And then I saw something that I'll never forget. It happened at school, right after class. As Anzu walked to her locker, there was Otogi to meet her, leaning up against her locker, looking sexy as hell and grinning at her. I could immediately feel her disgust at seeing him but he turned on the charm card and totally played it. Anzu tried to push him away with curt comments and sharp remarks to match his, and then when she just turned away to end the conversation, Otogi pulled her into a nearby bathroom.

An onslaught began. Otogi became angry and hostile, cornering Anzu and asking for an explanation: why would she talk to that little faggot Yugi and not give him, Otogi, one of the sexiest guys in school, the time of day? She argued it was because Yugi was a sweetheart and Otogi was a bad person with an ugly heart, and Otogi accused her of having a secret relationship with Yugi. The fight became more and more vicious, and the more I observed, the more I felt Anzu's nervousness. She was becoming afraid of Otogi. And there, in the bathroom, he moved to rape her. He pinned her to the wall, despite the fact she was struggling, and forced himself upon her. But before anything could actually transpire, another student came in, and Anzu got away.

But wait. You think that was uncomfortable, wait til you hear the next part. As I continued to observe her memories, I estimated it was another two months or so that went by after the rape attempt, that Otogi and Anzu had consensual sex; really sweaty, hard, animal sex. It was at Anzu's house, in Anzu's bed, and I could tell that she fucking loved every moment of it, the skank. I had a glimpse of a sexual aroused Otogi and even though it was the hottest thing ever, I felt a very real sick feeling crawl up into my stomach.

But after sex they distanced. Otogi became snarly and ugly while Anzu tried to be sweet and uplifting, probably wondering when her next fuck was coming. Otogi pushed her away, and Anzu was heartbroken. Nights were spent in tears, many hours in the bathtub spent crying and contemplating suicide. It wasn't until sophomore year that she seemed to get over it, and they began what seemed like a real love-hate relationship. Which of course was where I came into the picture.

But I knew what had happened. Otogi knew he couldn't make Anzu like him, which made him want her, so he pursued her like a son of a bitch with a mission, going so far as to take what he wanted. But when she yielded, he lost interest, and in the meantime she fell in love.

And now she was dead.

~*~

I came into the mausoleum fucking miserable and not wanting to talk to anyone. Seto was right where I left him, on the couch in front of the fire with his book, and he looked at me over his shoulder as I opened and shut the door and stormed away towards the bedroom. I stomped up the stairs, despite the fact I heard Seto call my name, and I threw myself down on the bed.

Never since my embrace had I wanted to cry so damn much, and all for a mortal. For two mortals, really. Anzu and Otogi…won't he be fucking surprised when he hears the news, he was arguing with Anzu on her fucking cell phone when she was suddenly attacked and was later found dead in an alleyway dumpster behind a posh restaurant.

I curled myself up into a fetal position, clutching at my stomach because for a moment I really felt like I was going to be sick. I felt I was going to spew my guts and Anzu's blood up all over the beautiful bedspread to stain the marble on the floors and the delicately carved pillars of the bed. I could hear her voice inside my head and I felt like ripping my hair out to make it stop. I could see her face when I closed my eyes and I wanted to claw out my eyes. Anything, anything to make this stop…anything in the world to make this stop!

Distantly I heard footsteps on the steps coming closer and closer, and as not to appear utterly shattered by what happened, I sat up and tried to maintain my composure. I didn't need Seto acting all concerned and asking me what was wrong, I wouldn't be able to tell him, I wouldn't be able to voice what was going on inside my mind right now. So as the footsteps neared I prayed, I really prayed that he wouldn't notice it.

Seto put a hand on my shoulder, startling me for a moment, and when I looked up at him his eyes were wide and curious, not enquiring. "Jou? Did you have fun?"

I looked up into his face, and suddenly I felt like my heart was breaking all over again. Seto was so beautiful, with his wide azure eyes and delicate, lovely features, and that wonderful chestnut hair falling gracefully into his face. The fire caught in his eyes, on his perfect skin, making him look alight with fire, and my heart ached as I looked upon him. Right now I loved him more than I could possibly say, more than I could possibly voice, for whatever transpired between us in the past and in the now was far more powerful than anything I would have experienced with anyone, with Otogi, or anyone.

So as I stared up at him, I couldn't help but give him a truly loving smile. "Yeah…yeah I did."

It was a lie, but I don't think he noticed. He smiled a little and moved to sit down next to me, and I made room. He towered over me, even when we were seated, and I looked up at him and just smiled at him. His very presence immediately lifted my spirits, no matter how awful my mood.

Seto's hand swept over the collar of my new top, and I saw his eyes fixate on my form and his eyes gave an interested twitch, and his smiled tweaked in a different way. "Is this new?"

I looked down at my top. It was a jet black collared top, Italian silk, with the nicest black buttons. I had the sleeves rolled up to the elbow and the buttons only buttoned up to my breastbone. It was a great top, I loved it, and it seemed like Seto loved it too. "Yeah it is. Do you like it?"

His eyes met with mine, and they had a different light in them, the firelight caught in them, made them shine beautifully. He smiled a little wider. "Very much."

I had the most irresistible urge to kiss him, right there at that moment, just to show him how much I loved him. I know he probably didn't care how much I loved him, but I just needed to express it. Luckily I didn't have to, because Seto leaned forward and kissed my lips just gently, a sweet little kiss, like a kiss hello. I kissed him back and again I had the urge to break down and cry, just bawl my fucking eyes out, crumble into a little ball and let Seto try and console me. Then I could tell him everything, everything about Otogi and Anzu and the whole fucking evening I endured, and the memories that would stick with me forever. Maybe he'd understand, maybe he'd be able to tell me something, anything that would help, help me forget it…

His kiss intensified and he moved his hand up along my jaw to bring me a little closer. I kissed him back to match his force, adjusting my seating on the bed a little so I could have better access to him.

Maybe this was what I needed, just a little physical contact to make everything go away, chase the ugly thoughts away…

What started as a sweet comfort kiss suddenly intensified. Before I knew it, Seto was undoing the buttons on my new shirt and I was clawing at his pants. He was kissing me hard and his tongue was sweeping along my bottom lip, making my body shake. His chilly hands swept up over my ribs, tickling me a little, and pinching my nipples between his fingers before his arms encircled me and brought me square into his lap. I moaned in my throat as I suddenly felt all the blood in my body rush to my crotch.

The kiss broke and our eyes met for a moment. His azure eyes were alight with passion, so different then I'd seen them recently. I squeezed my legs around his waist and he growled a little in his throat, making me grin. I clawed at his sweater, wanting it off, just off so I could have at his skin. He seemed to read my thoughts because he pulled it up over his head and tossed it away onto the floor. I pressed myself against him and took his face in my hands and kissed him hard, darting my tongue into his mouth and feeling his tongue touch mine almost frantically. His arms held me fast and he pressed me against him, as if he was afraid I was going to try and get away.

My crotch was fast becoming on fire with need for him. Everything about him, his taste and his smell, was driving my blood absolutely crazy. Eagerly I rubbed my crotch against him, trying to motion to him that it was time for the pants to come off. I touched his skin frantically, running my hands up over his shoulders and down along his arms, just anything to touch him, to feel his skin.

His hands went to my trousers, and through the kiss I groaned to encourage him. His fingers worked at the button and drew down the zipper, and without hesitating he slipped a hand into my trousers and touched me through my boxers. I moaned hard into his kiss as he touched me. I moved my hips against his movements, eagerly trying to communicate that I loved it, what he was doing, and wanted more.

When his motions slowed a little, I rose up onto my knees and his hands pulled my trousers down off my hips to my knees, and then my boxers, bringing them down and freeing my erection. He grabbed my erection with one hand while the other circled around my waist and brought me closer. I moaned hard into his kiss, gripped his hair with my fingers, and endured his touch for as long as I possibly could.

The kiss broke abruptly and I was gasping. Seto grinned wickedly and licked along my lips and his tongue thrust into my mouth as his hand continued to molest me. I broke from the kiss for a moment to sit back and pull off my trousers and my boxers and toss them to the floor. After this task was done I launched myself at Seto and sat myself into his lap and claimed his mouth with a hungry kiss, begging him for his attention.

I needed it, I needed sex right now, it was all I needed. It would make everything go away, everything would disappear, so long as I was with Seto, caught in his scent and touching his skin.

Skillfully, Seto turned me around so I sat in his lap but my back rested against his chest. An arm wrapped around my waist to keep me in place while his other hand touched me. I groaned and leaned my head back onto his shoulder and his tongue swept over the shell of my ear, flicking at my earlobe. I bucked my hips up into his hand, wanting his touch harder and faster.

When my cock was weeping, Seto released me and pushed me forward onto all fours, so my ass was hanging out in the air. I let my head bend down as I heard Seto unbuckle his belt and unzip his zipper. I shook in anticipation, my arms shaking violently, as I felt the head of his erection touch the globes of my ass, teasing me, touching everywhere except my asshole. One hand swept up over my back, running his fingers along my spine while the other positioned his erection at my hole. I bit down hard on my lip as I felt him push his way inside, and I squeezed my eyes shut and fought the urge to scream out in pain. I wanted this so badly, more than anything.

Have I ever discussed how vampires feel pain? No? Geez, you'd think by now I would have at least told you something about it. Well let me give you the bottom line…pain is pain, whether human or vampire, but when you're a vampire something strange happens. Pain morphs into something much more tolerable, almost intoxicating, a little like pleasure. I guess that's why biting and cutting and being violent is so often depicted as a pleasurable experience in vampire films. And because the blood heals things so quickly, pain is fleeting and then it's gone. It never lasts. So when you're a human and just a moment of pain is excruciating, a moment of pain for a vampire isn't quite enough.

Anyway, Seto's cock in my ass was a pain that I needed, that I absolutely and desperately needed. All I could think about was Seto, trying to picture him in my head, his beautiful face wrought with concentration and his naked body in one with my own. I gathered the bedspread in my fingers and curled hard as he thrust into me over and over, as I moaned over and over.

Seto gripped my sharp hips to give him better support as his thrusts became harder, touching my prostrate and making me groan heavily into the bedspread beneath me. My body curled and shook and I rocked forward as he plunged into me over and over. I cried out his name over and over, and he responded as hard and as fast as he could.

It was over far sooner than I wanted it to be, I wanted it to continue on and on for nights. But it crawled up on me, that feeling in my stomach, and I orgasmed hard and long, screaming out and cumming hard, clawing at the bedspread and squeezing Seto hard, enough to make him climax at the exact same time.

I collapsed into the sheets underneath me and Seto fell down on top of me. As I calmed and relaxed and slowly let the bedspread go from my clenched fingers, I closed my eyes and fought not to start crying. I wanted to so badly but I willed myself not to do it. Just don't cry, Katsuya.

Seto pulled out smoothly and collapsed next to me, lying still for a moment until I felt his hand take mine. And when he did that, I couldn't help it. I closed my eyes and a tear broke free. Subtle as it was, it was the most powerful thing Seto had ever done to show that he cared for me, even just by a little bit. It was too much to take.

I thought of Anzu, and how my undead heart wrenched for her. Why didn't I let her go? Why didn't I just…let her go?

Moments passed and then Seto was silent beside me. He had fallen asleep. The fire was dying in the fireplace, and I felt more alone then ever before, dying all over again within my body and mind, as I would die every night for the rest of existence, like the victims I took. I cried uncontrollably for hours it seemed until I slipped away into a sleep that was heavy with realization.

All humanity left in me was now gone.

~*~

* * *

**A/N: So obviously I didn't make my goal of finishing Chihiro before Christmas, but it is definitely getting close. Hope you all have a very Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and a Happy New Year!**


	26. Chapter TwentyFive

Chihiro: Part I

Chapter Twenty-Five

~*~

For days after the death of Anzu I stayed secluded in the mausoleum, lying in bed for what seemed to be hours and only going out to feed when Seto insisted. I could tell he was becoming more and more concerned; several times he sat down to ask me if something had happened and I wanted to tell him, I wanted more then anything to tell him and unburden myself. Maybe he would understand. But in the end I always shook my head and he left me alone.

Now that I was staying in the mausoleum more often, we were having sex regularly. Some nights I needed it more than I ever imagined I would; I needed Seto's touch and his taste and his smell on me, inside me, and all around me. And some nights, when I didn't want sex and Seto didn't seem interested, we would just sit together in front of the fire and that was all that was needed. Seto had his books that he dived into, staying absorbed for hours, and so long as I could sit next to him and stare into the fire, I was at peace.

One of the few nights we ventured out to hunt, we passed a newspaper stand and there it was, plastered all over the front page: CHEERLEADER'S KILLER STILL AT LARGE IN DOMINO! When I saw it I was careful not to look at it too long, in case Seto noticed. I was suddenly more grateful than ever that we didn't own a television, or even a radio, so that I wouldn't have to hear the news reports about Anzu's death. Any more about it and I felt I would break down into a million pieces.

At one point after about two weeks of seclusion, Marik and Bakura found their way to the mausoleum (much to Seto's distaste) and came looking for me. I was sitting in front of the fire and came to greet them at the door, happy to see them until I remembered that they had been there that night too, the night I killed Anzu.

"Hey Jou, enjoying your honeymoon?" Bakura asked as they made their way inside, while Seto held the door open with a half-hearted look on his face.

"Yeah, you getting your face smeared with Kaiba cream every night?" Marik asked, as nonchalant as ever. It was at this point that Kaiba went upstairs with his book, muttering something about the vulgarity present in his home that evening.

"So where've you been, Jou? We haven't seen you since that night you killed that fucking annoying salesgirl." Bakura was admiring the stone that the mausoleum was made out of, running his hand along it to feel how smooth it was.

I sat down on the couch and shrugged. "Haven't felt much like going out, I guess."

"You're not feeling upset about the salesgirl, are you?" Marik asked, smirking. "It's not like you had a choice, Jou. She couldn't know you were still alive."

"I'm not upset about that, can we just drop it already?" I snarled, a little more angrily than I would have liked, and the two of them were suddenly staring at me very seriously.

Now here's something about the two twits that you might not believe. The two of them aren't much when they're together: they fight, they hit, they scream, they bite, and they probably fuck each other senseless, but that's not what I'm getting at. On their own, they have their different qualities: Bakura can be more indifferent while Marik can be a bit more fun and joking. One thing that they're not is stupid, combined or on their own.

I was sitting with my arms crossed staring into the fire when Bakura plopped down beside me on the couch, and when I looked into his chocolate brown eyes, they were hard and serious. "What did you see?"

I felt my lip begin to tremble, and I started to blabber out an excuse. "Nothing, I-"

"Bullshit it was nothing." Bakura said seriously. "You drank her blood; there was something you must have seen, something in her lifetime that has deeply distressed you."

Fuck these guys, sometimes there just isn't getting anything past them. But I really didn't feel like explaining the whole damn thing to them. And who knows, would they understand? Would they care? They didn't know what I was going through, who were they to try and pry it out of me?

Marik plopped down on the other side of me. "Come on Jou, you can tell us. What was in the bitch's memories? Maybe you fucked her and didn't remember?"

I stood up so abruptly the couch almost fell over. "Look guys, I really don't…would you just please leave? I'll…I'll come to the coven in a few nights."

"Ooh." Marik grinned. "He's getting upset, it must be worse than I thought."

"Maybe he raped her and didn't remember." Bakura muttered indignantly.

I don't know what it was, Marik's remark or Bakura's, but next thing I knew I was more furious than ever before. I stared at them one minute and the next there was this incredible bashing noise, but where had it come from? I saw them look behind them and there was a chair in pieces on the floor behind the couch. It only took a moment for me to realize that I had picked it up and thrown it, in a fit of anger.

That was when they seemed to get the message, moreless. They got up off the couch and sauntered over to the door, not really saying anything or looking at me as they walked by me, and I wouldn't look at them. I couldn't meet their eyes. I felt an incredibly sick feeling build up inside of me and I felt nauseated.

I heard the door close and they were gone.

I stood there for what seemed to be hours just heaving in anger, my head spinning and my emotions clogging my thoughts. I felt the blood tears begin to swell up in my eyes until I pressed my hands against them and tried to keep them from spilling.

I opened my eyes after I was sure I wouldn't start crying, and there was Seto standing on the steps, watching me with a serious expression on his face. He didn't even seem to notice the broken bits of chair lying around on the floor. Hope that chair wasn't expensive.

Under Seto's glare, I felt almost as though I was human again, and here he was coming to confront me. Only this time I wasn't lovesick over him. This time I was desperately pleading with him in my mind not to ask, please don't ask…

Seto stepped off the stairs and came towards me, and for the first time since my embrace, I felt genuinely threatened by his presence. We had roles in this relationship, we both knew it, and now he was going to exercise his role as the sire.

I looked to the door and wondered if I could make a quick escape, but Seto growled out. "Don't even dare."

I stayed perfectly still after that, watching him come closer and closer towards me, and willing myself not to cry in fear. He came right up to me, towered over me, and I stared up into his blue eyes, bright from the fire, but hard with determination. If I tried really hard, I could close my eyes and we would be back in my apartment, with a beating heart in my chest, and Anzu would still be alive.

Seto's voice didn't quiver with rage, nor did it soften with love. "Tell me what happened."

It was an order. I would disobey at my own risk. I looked away from his eyes and at his shirt, a beautifully hand-made silk shirt, jet black and open at the collarbone. Maybe if I stayed quiet I wouldn't have to answer him.

"Oh…" I began weakly, gesturing towards the door with my flailing arm. "You know them, stay too long, ask too many questions-"

"That's not what I meant." Seto interrupted harshly, and I jolted slightly from the sharpness in his tone. "You've been quiet, distant, not going out to feed. So what happened?"

I shook my head and turned away from him. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Jou, it's obviously bothering you-" He reached out and took my shoulder in his right hand, and angrily I shrugged him away.

"I don't want to talk about it!" I snarled at him, and turned to him, and he maintained his hard demeanor, although I could have sworn I saw him trembling. "Why don't you just read my head, if you're so goddamn curious?!"

Seto took in a deep, annoyed breath. "I was hoping you would just tell me."

I felt my anger soften immediately, and my scowling, scrunching face slowly faded into a frown. There was the one thing he could say to shut me the hell up, and say it in a way that would make me think that even just for a moment, maybe he cared enough about me to want to know what was genuinely wrong.

So I gave in. Of course I did. "…I saw a girl I knew when I was human."

The expression in his face was nothing I had ever seen before. Horror, for a split second, came into his eyes and then he seemed to calm himself, so the azure pools I stared into were now calm and cool. "And what did you do?"

I took him a breath and closed my eyes. I didn't want to say it. "I killed her."

Seto let out a deep sigh of…relief? I looked at him and he did indeed look like he was relieved. "I'm glad to hear it."

That did it, I guess. My jaw dropped open and I was prepared to launch into a furious onslaught about how he dare say such a horrible thing. But I couldn't find the words that expressed the anger I was feeling. I turned my back on him for a moment to compose myself, but I couldn't keep it in for even a second. It needed to be unleashed, everything about it.

"Glad to…glad to hear it?!" I screamed at him, my voice echoing off the marble that surrounded us, and yet still Seto did not flinch. "She was alive and well and breathing and laughing five days ago and now she's dead and it's because of ME! Because she knew me!"

"At the wrong place at the wrong time." Seto said gently, and came towards me. I was still heaving with anger and I knew that if he so much put a finger on me I was ready to lash out and get even angrier, for making light of such a severe situation. But his eyes were kind, and his expression was unmoving.

Seto smiled very gently, and he reached out and touched my jaw with his fingers, lightly and featherlike, and I felt the anger begin to slip away. "You may be a strong fledgling but your humanity continues to weaken you."

Humanity, what humanity? Did I have any humanity left in me when I attacked and killed Anzu in that dirty alley?

Then Seto did something completely unexpected. The fingers that gently touched my jawbone reached over and gripped my shoulder; pulling me forward unexpectedly, Seto gathered me into his arms. I was confused for a moment, for his scent flooded my nostrils and he was holding me close and I closed my eyes. My blood rushed within my veins, in simple ecstasy for being so close to him. My blood raged, begging to break from my skin and be closer to him than I already was.

I felt his lips caress the shell of my ear, which made me shudder hard. He whispered gently: "No matter what you do, time will touch them, and hurt them, and take everything away from them. And if it comes by your hand, they should be so lucky to fall embrace to a gold-headed angel, and leave this world in bliss."

I squeezed my eyes shut and I felt the tears start to come. It was the single most incredible thing I ever remember him saying to me, in all the time we knew each other. I wrapped my arms around him and held him to me hard. I never wanted to let him go ever again.

Seto laid a very gentle kiss on the shell of my ear and I swooned. I felt his nose tickle my ear, as his lips whispered to me. "This girl, wherever she is now, will go on. And you should too."

After a moment of silence, because talk seemed ever so unimportant at this time, Seto rested his head against mine gently, and we just stood there for moments, quiet and holding each other, while the fire blazed away in the fireplace and the night dwindled on.

Perhaps Seto would win "Best Sire of the Year" after all…

~*~

Seto was right; time did go on. I stayed at the mausoleum and avoided the coven, not quite ready yet to face and make up with the twits. It was just as well, because I was in such peace at the mausoleum. Seto and I went out to feed just about every night, and afterwards we returned to the mausoleum to partake in passionate sex. Seto was quite forceful when he wanted to be, but hell you'd never see me complaining. Whether he was gentle and passionate or animalistic and powerful, I was a slave to his arms, more in love with him than I could ever realize, and wanting to spend all days and nights in nothing but our naked skin.

Eventually the mystery surrounding Anzu's death died down, and the "case went cold", as the newspapers said, meaning that the police were no longer looking for a suspect, I guess. Her funeral was scheduled, and even though I desperately wanted to go to pay my respects and offer silent apologies to her parents and her loved ones, it took place during the day, and even if it took place at night, I was afraid to death of seeing Otogi there. I was pretty sure he wouldn't bother showing up for her funeral, but how did I know? For all I knew, he was still in love with her and just had the shittiest way of showing it.

I promised her quietly that when she was buried, I would visit her. I'd talk to the tombstone, as stupid as that sounds, but I figured she'd at least appreciate a visit…and maybe an explanation.

Seto found out who she was eventually. One too many times when we were out and passed a newspaper with her happy face posted on the front, I must have looked a little too long and Seto figured it out immediately. He said nothing, offered no words of sympathy or solace. He knew that I had to move on, and he wouldn't help by constantly referring to her. I knew too that if I kept thinking about her, I'd never get over the guilt I felt.

It was nearly October, and the air was beginning to change. The leaves were changing colour, and ever so subtly Seto was beginning to change a little too. He seemed quieter, more reluctant to leave the mausoleum. He wanted to stay in and not stray too far. I was more than happy to stay in the mausoleum with him, partake in whatever he wanted to do, even if it was just sitting quietly. The love I felt for him was so strong that we didn't need words. All I needed was his presence, his scent, his embrace, his erection, and his kiss, and I was sated. And I was ecstatic to think that time was continuing on, and we were going to witness the change of so many seasons together. So long as we were together, eternity didn't seem so frightening. It seemed just dandy.

~*~

Mid October rolled around, and one night when I awoke I realized that the walls of the mausoleum suddenly seemed so bare and dull. What was missing exactly? I thought long and hard about it. I had always been disappointed that the mausoleum didn't have a really nice bathroom where I could just surrender to the shower now and then, but I'd gotten over that. But suddenly the plainness of the walls was beginning to get to me. How does one dress them up?

Of course any normal person would think: "Hey, that's easy. Pictures! Lots and lots of pictures of the happy homeowners!"

But Seto told me that vampires did not cast reflections, and if they didn't cast reflections, I was worried that they wouldn't show up in pictures. Say we had Yami take a picture of us in front of the mausoleum, and we got the film developed and all it was was a picture of the mausoleum with nothing in front of it. The people at the photo shop would think we were crazy.

So pictures were obviously not an option…but the other one was paintings.

And that, dear reader, is when I discovered that the one thing I wanted most in the world, in the last days of being human, was finally within my grasp. And I nearly had a heart attack when I remembered it.

Yup, you got it. "Merciful Death".

I had gotten into the habit of robbing my victims, yeah I know it's terrible but it's how we get by. I had saved enough money from my victims that I had well over the amount needed to buy "Merciful Death". So I woke up one evening bright and early, got dressed, gave Seto a passionate kiss and promised him a surprise when I came home, and set off to the art gallery to buy the painting.

It was quite something to revisit the little street that the art gallery sat on. I hadn't come down this way since I had been turned, and I felt so nostalgic about the whole thing. I was so pleased, walking down the street with a huge goofy grin on my face. People walking past me must have thought I was nuts, but I couldn't help it. I stared at the gift shops and the restaurants and everything all around and I felt like I was human again, just an ordinary human kid waltzing around enjoying his youth in the hip part of town.

I came to the art gallery in no time, and even though I was delighted to see it again, I was suddenly paralyzed with fear for a single moment when I thought…what if "Merciful Death" was no longer there? It had been nearly six months since I'd seen it; it was more than possible that it had been sold a long time ago. I prayed that it wasn't, though. I really, really, really prayed that I would walk in and there it would be, waiting for me, asking me to take it home.

I walked in through the door and bell chimed. The heat took me immediately, and my eyes searched the walls frantically. There was no one at the front to greet me, so I couldn't ask about it, so I just wandered about the gallery, searching the walls for it. It had to be here, it just had to be! I'd die if it wasn't here! I'd just die!

But then I saw it. Perfectly aligned on a wall right in front of me, there it sat. Dark and dreadful and deep and beautiful, and I nearly fell to my knees when I saw it. I nearly burst into tears when I started to approach it. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would own it…and now I had enough money to buy it ten times over. I was going to have it after all. It was going to be mine.

I heard footsteps come up behind me, and before I could turn to look over my shoulder, I heard a gentleman's voice ring in my ear, slightly distasteful. "Can I help you sir?"

I turned and looked at him. The snob was definitely taken aback by my youth and then by my clothes (the fucking expensive kind, remember) because he looked me up and down for a brief moment and then smiled, as if he had come to the conclusion that I had lots of money.

I didn't want to waste any time. I motioned to "Merciful Death" and asked: "How much for this piece?"

The man looked at the painting and then back to me, with an even bigger smile. "That piece is listed at 43,000 yen, sir."

I smiled, and I nodded. "I'll take it."

His eyes lit up for a moment, as though I had said the magic words that he'd wanted to hear all day. He clasped his hands together tightly, as though he was overjoyed, and just as he was about to open his mouth….something very strange happened.

The expression left his face ever so slightly. The shine in his eyes was diminishing ever so slowly. The more I stared at him, the more my smile started to falter. I searched his face, his hands, his stature…nothing changed. Was he okay? He was staring at me like a doll with glass eyes, and it was beginning to unnerve me. What was going on? Was he going to tell me that I couldn't have it?

That was when I realized that the air had shifted in the gallery. It had shifted very, very dramatically.

I opened my mouth to say something when a voice interrupted me: "Charles, give him a decent discount, will you?"

The voice came from behind the salesman. The salesman nodded like a slave following orders, his eyes continually fixed on me, and simply answered: "Yes sir."

Then he moved past me, towards the painting, and I watched as he very carefully took it off the wall and carried it towards the back of the store, where I presumed he was going to have it wrapped.

I turned around and came face to face with another vampire.

His red eyes were full and blazing. The scent of his blood hit me in the face like a brick, for it was old and magnificent. The vampire was very handsome; he had traditional and very delicate features. His skin was pale, as was his long hair, and he looked at me with the kindest of smiles. He stood at least a head taller than me, and dressed in a luxurious red satin suit. A massive ruby brooch was pinned at his throat. I knew it right away: this was one old and rich motherfucker.

I was going to ask how on earth he had the power to manipulate the human the way he did, but then I realized that I had seen him somewhere…but where? I hadn't seen him in the flesh before, it had been…

*INSERT GASP HERE…because that's what I did.*

I pointed to the empty wall behind me, where "Merciful Death" had been hanging only a moment ago, and I struggled to form words as this vampire stared at me. "You…the painting-"

The vampire laughed a low, handsome chuckle, and swept the wave of hair out of his face gracefully with one long white hand. "Yes, it is mine. And the human, yes…it was me. A very loose capture of how I was turned."

Then his eyes narrowed almost seductively. "I'm pleased you like it."

My jaw dropped open and I was lost for words. Here I was standing with the artist and the subject of "Merciful Death"…how insignificant did I feel at that moment? I can't even begin to tell you! And as much as I wanted to stray from the typical screaming fan girl effect, I couldn't help but completely gawk at him. "Like it? I adore it!"

I was gushing shamelessly, but he didn't seem to mind so I just kept right at it like a moron. "When I was human I would just stand here and marvel at it!"

Again that very handsome, low chuckle, and his dazzlingly eyes met mine once again. "Always delighted to meet a fan, and an undead one at that."

I grinned widely, and decided now was the time to introduce myself to this vampire who had painted my favourite painting in the world. I felt like a school girl about to meet her favourite romance novel author.

I offered my hand and gave him my name. "I'm Jounouchi Katsuya."

He took my hand like a true gentleman, and gave me his name.

"Pegasus J. Crawford."

* * *

**THIS IS THE END OF CHIHIRO PART I!**

**I'm sorry to leave you all with the cliffhanger, but I figured this was the perfect time to put the twist in the plotline. **

**I want to thank all of you who have read, reviewed, emailed me and put "Chihiro: Part I" on your favourite story lists! **

**It has been your support that has given me the incentive to finish this story!**

**Stay tuned and find out what happens to the vampire Jou when "Chihiro" continues in Part II, coming the first week of March, 2010. **

**Again, thank you for all your support!**

**Ennya  
**


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